Holy 30-centimetres long claws of thy unholy Lord from beyond… does this 5-headed Spanish monster known as NOCTEM rip some flesh if it ever was after for our flesh? Well, it does indeed – and now let’s get the hell out of here unless we don’t want to turn into some small and raw meatballs on their served lunch table. Ha-ha… okay, I think I should take it a bit easier as there’s no point of going anywhere because we can always share a piece of nearly hysterically explosive extreme Metal together, right folks? "Oblivion", which actually happens to be these Spanish bastard sons of extreme Metal 2nd album in order, has this special warning sign attached to it, saying somewhat cliché way: ‘Listen at your own risk only’ but that risk is worth taken, I can tell you. NOCTEM’s ravenous mixture of Thrash, Death and Black Metal on "Oblivion", comes out in a pretty fine yet even kinda exhausting form. At times at neck-breaking, nonstops speeds they tend to go a bit over-the-top, but for some odd reason they somehow still manage to keep all their strings squeezed into one tight grip and deliver the goods in a respectable enough way by counting exactly on those things where they know they are good at. And for their advantage, they also happen to know exactly what are some of their strong assets when it all comes down to their songwriting. They have got a good sense for some good melodies, furious and violent outbursts – and overall on all those things that manage to cause a pretty fair amount of stir among the fans of more extreme side of Metal at least. There’s bits of DARK FUNERAL, bits of NAGLFAR, bits of NILE, bits of BELPHEGOR – and even small slices of ABSU in NOCTEM’s all-barricades crushing sound – and without a question the fans’ demanding moans have been answered. They wanted it this vicious, evil, infernal and chilling – and that’s exactly what they even got. The album is ended by the title track ‘Oblivion’; a 13-minutes epic song, which these fellows have obviously bled a few gallons of sweat, blood and tears for… well, almost. Unfortunately one long and wide minus for this otherwise so entertaining record starts from the 4:31 min mark, ending at the 9:15 min mark. Isn’t it kind of ridiculous to get more length into your album by some nonsense spiral type of sound of void? In my opinion it is – no offense though. Don’t get it what’s the point of doing something like that. Otherwise, NOCTEM’s "Oblivion" reeks pretty much of 1st class violent musical arts and entertainment of extremity in a good way. More information about NOCTEM, can be found at: www.noctemofficial.com, www.artgatesrecords.com