It’s been a long time since we’ve had a new album from NAILED TO OBSCURITY. The German doom/death metal band have been touring extensively, while steadily writing songs since 2021. At last, the work has been completed, so we can finally enjoy “Generation of the Void,” six years after its predecessor “Black Frost,” to be released on September 5th, 2025, via Nuclear Blast Records. Inspired by the pandemic, an ongoing war in Europe, and the state of humanity in general, it is again a dark and introspective affair, where personal themes go hand in hand with general reflections on the world.
Is it all doom and gloom then? Not entirely. While “Generation of the Void” builds further on NAILED TO OBSCURITY’s signature doom/death sound, it is more expansive and progressive. The band can still be related to PARADISE LOST and SWALLOW THE SUN, but it’s hard not to think of OPETH and KATATONIA in the more prog-oriented songs. This doesn’t mean that the band have lost their identity. On the contrary, by crossing the boundaries of different metal genres, they have found a sweet spot that takes elements from the bands mentioned above without copying them.
The album impresses immediately with opening track, “Glass Bleeding,” while “Liquid Mourning” brings us howling riffs with a heavy PARADISE LOST vibe. From there, “Generation of the Void” gradually evolves into a more progressive vibe, combining heavy riffs and a melancholic vibe with more epic compositions and changes in pace, not unlike OPETH’s masterpiece “Blackwater Park.“ This culminates in “Clouded Frame,” which is purely a progressive metal song, displaying the band’s new direction in all its might.
It’s not only the interesting mix of styles that makes “Generation of the Void” so compelling. It’s also the well-crafted songs, with choruses and guitar leads that quickly get stuck in your head. NAILED TO OBSCURITY have made a significant step forward here compared to previous albums. Raimund Ennenga’s vocals are also worth mentioning: not only his growls are excellent, but so are his cleans. The contrast between the vocal styles is used to maximum effect, marking the distinction between the heavier and more melodic aspects of the band’s sound. Mixed and mastered by the renowned Jakob Hansen, there cannot be any doubt about the album’s sound quality either.
This is normally the part where I add some critical notes about an album, but I honestly don’t have any. NAILED TO OBSCURITY have done a brilliant job with “Generation of the Void,” crafting an album that should impress fans of doom/death metal, melodic death metal, and progressive metal alike. While the band clearly show their influences, they have blended those creatively to come up with a wonderful album that deserves to be heard. While some may lament the diminished aggression compared to previous albums, many others will welcome the more melodic approach with a stronger emphasis on clean vocals. It will be interesting to see in which direction NAILED TO OBSCURITY will develop in the future, but I certainly hope it won’t be another six years for a new album to be released.
Written by Lykle Thijssen
Tracklist
- Glass Bleeding
- Liquid Mourning
- Overcast
- Spirit Corrosion
- Generation of the Void
- Echo Attempt
- Allure
- Clouded Frame
- Misery’s Messenger
- The Ides of Life
Lineup
Raimund Ennenga – Vocals
Volker Dieken – Guitar
Jan-Ole Lamberti – Guitar
Lutz Neemann – Bass
Jann Hillrichs – Drums
Label
Nuclear Blast
