''Revelations of Oblivion'' is the third studio album by

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...

. It was released on May 10, 2019 via

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. The album entered the

UK Rock & Metal Singles and Albums Charts The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

at #7 and the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Current Album Sales chart at #59 in its first week. It is the band's first full-length studio album in 33 years, preceded by 1986's '' Beyond the Gates''. The album was announced on March 16, 2019 alongside the promotional single "No More Room in Hell". Per Metalinsider's Metal By Numbers weekly column the album sold 200 units in its first week. The album marks the band's first full-length release for label

, for which they signed in May 2017. The album's art was created by Zbigniew Bielak who had previously provided artwork for Absu,

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

Gorguts Gorguts is a Canadian death metal band from Sherbrooke, Quebec, formed in 1989. The band has been through many personnel changes since its inception; its only constant member has been guitarist and vocalist Luc Lemay, who remains the primary cr ...

, and

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

. The album features a host of new additions to the band, featuring only Becerra from the classic 80's lineup. It is the first Possessed album to feature drummer Emilio Marquez and bassist Robert Cardenas of Coffin Texts, guitarist Daniel Gonzalez from Gruesome, and guitarist Claudeous Creamer. The album also marked the band's first "cinematic" music video in their history. A music video for "Graven", directed by Scott Hansen and featuring a cameo by the band's friend, actor

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film '' Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television ser ...

was released on May 23, 2019. A live video for the song "Shadowcult" was released the prior April.

Reception

Critics praised the album and Becerra's return, with Blabbermouth calling the album "a monstrous reaffirmation of this absurdly influential band's original ethos that it almost defies belief."

Decibel Magazine ''Decibel'' is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since October 2004. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Reviews, Guest Columns and the Decibel Hall of Fame. The magazine's tag-line is currentl ...

praised the mixing of the album, calling Tägtgren's mix "near perfect" and stating that Tägtgren was "able to get the modern edge out of Possessed while also preserving the magic of

Randy Burns Randall R. Burns (born April 14, 1948) is an American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist who recorded several albums in the 1960s and early 1970s, when he performed with the Sky Dog Band. He has continued to perform and record occasionally. ...

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...

would go on to name the album the 6th best metal album of 2019.

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

praised the album's original '80s death metal sound but also pointed out the symphonic elements of "Omen" and the technicality of tracks like "Abandoned". Exclaim! concluded:

Track listing

Personnel

;Possessed *Jeff Becerra - vocals *Daniel Gonzalez - lead guitar *Claudeous Creamer - rhythm guitar *Robert Cardenas - bass *Emilio Marquez - drums ;Production *Jeff Becerra - executive production *Daniel Gonzalez - production *

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain i ...

- mixing, mastering

Charts

References

{{Authority control Possessed (band) albums 2019 albums Nuclear Blast albums