Fragarak – A Spectral Oblivion

The genre of death metal has had an infinite amount of talent come and go over the years from the biggest bands the genre has known to the smallest town acts that never even made a blip on the radar. It’s a genre that’s widely known as explosively aggressive and violent. That can take many forms. After decades, people tend to come together and bring spins upon that which they love. That can sometimes end in failure but a lot of times it also results in a resounding success. The Indian metal scene has been no stranger to stellar releases in the recent years, and now a great band from the scene has taken it upon themselves to elevate death metal into something more.

Fragarak has already made their blip on the radar with their first album, but it’s their second effort, “A Spectral Oblivion”, that truly shows what they’re made of. Taking something as hallowed as death metal and adding any sort of spin to it can be seen as sacrilegious to some, but fortune favors the bold!

“A Spectral Oblivion” stands as a phenomenal slab of death metal that’s peppered with atmospheric and tons of progressive elements to really allow this over hour long experience to stand out amongst a watered down crowd. And as if that wasn’t enough, Fragarak even gives the pure execution of the acoustics and the very flow of the heaviness a feel that seems reminiscent of traditional Indian music. That helps “A Spectral Oblivion” even more as the amount of bands that do such a thing can likely be counted on one hand. It takes several moving parts to get something like “A Spectral Oblivion” moving, and much to my surprise Fragarak was able to time and again deliver with their intricate melodies to truly allow the listener to hear something that we rarely ever get to see.

And it’s not just the sound that impresses me, but the sense of pacing that can be seen with “A Spectral Oblivion” can only be described as no less than f**king immaculate. Where many people would become bored even to the point of annoyance with a good chunk of the eleven tracks running over ten minutes. Do you know what you can do in ten minutes? Impress, surprise, and amaze every single listener that’s bold enough to hear what Fragarak has summoned forth with their sophomore effort. The improvement from their debut can be seen without effort, and that alone makes “A Spectral Oblivion” even more of a marvel apart from every moment of it being delicious in every way.

Very few bands have managed to impress me in ways that Fragarak has. It requires several moving parts, pristine musicianship, stunning imagination, and impeccable taste to produce something like “A Spectral Oblivion”. Leave it to the maniacs over in India to create something like this sooner or later. There’s no other way to put it: “A Spectral Oblivion” is a masterpiece backwards and forwards. I can only highly recommend as Fragarak has made something truly special here, and it demands to be heard from all across the globe.

“A Spectral Oblivion” is out now via Transcending Obscurity India! You can stream the entirety of the album on Bandcamp here.

Track Listing:

  1. In Rumination I – The Void
  2. In Rumination II – Reflections
  3. The Phaneron Eclipsed
  4. Ālūcinārī I – Transcendence
  5. Fathoms of Delirium
  6. Ālūcinārī II – Revelations
  7. Spectre – An Oblivion Awakens
  8. Ālūcinārī III – A Reverie
  9. This Chastising Masquerade
  10. Of Ends Ethereal
  11. Ālūcinārī IV – The Fall