I received an advance copy of Обрій's long-anticipated debut album, codenamed "Йосип", directly from lyricist and former guitarist Василь Лавер. Based in Uzhhorod, the band was formed in 2013, and until this glorious moment they have released quite a lot of material, mostly in the form of EPs, splits and singles. Their music has changed from release to release, but the core has always been death metal, and to make their sound even heavier and deadlier, they added the so-called Swedish HM-2 guitar sound to their arsenal a little later. As far as influences go, well, definitely Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, At the Gates, Dismember and similar hordes from the beloved death metal underground, although the members were pretty much focused on that from the start. Now on to the material on the debut album. First of all, "Йосип (Joseph)" is a conceptual album, all the lyrics are about Stalinism and the crimes of the Stalinist Soviet regime, more or less in chronological order, and the song titles are taken from book titles related to the subject of the song. Secondly, the band has improved a lot in terms of songwriting and sound, the latter largely thanks to Дмитро Бастанов. Let me say right away that this album has a huge sound production and is perfectly balanced, and that's no exaggeration. There are 8 songs in total (4 per side) and the playing time is 35:41. They were recorded by Микола Мага (vocals), Віталій Лендєл (guitars), Олександр Рогов (bass) and Петро Будай (drums). After a short intro, the massive and groovy riffs of "Як гартувалася сталь (How the Steel Was Tempered)" kick in. It's a great headbanging track with lots of melodic parts and a moody solo. The vocals are still far from the standard death metal growls or screams; I would describe them more as harsh hardcore shouts. This song has a slightly Scandinavian feel to it, with some truly memorable moments. The second cut is called "Жовтий князь (The Yellow Prince)". It's all about nasty thrash metal riffs and pounding drumming, spiced up with some catchy Bolt Thrower-esque guitar motifs, the solo is a bit out of place, but thankfully doesn't spoil the overall mood of the song. This is followed by the "Сад Гетсиманський (The Garden of Gethsemane)". Another headbanging track with lots of double bass drumming, dynamic riffing and again strong Bolt Thrower influences. The last song on Side A is called "Ніч ополудні (Darkness at Noon)". It's a pretty groove-oriented piece with cool kick drum patterns and great tom fills. Side B opens with the melancholic acoustic guitar melodies of "День М (M-Day)". Next up is "Чорні ешелони (Black Echelons)", which combines the distinctive melodies of At the Gates with some energetic Slayer riffs in the middle. The 7th song is called "Терпіння (Patience)" and it's my favorite. It starts off with slow, creeping, doomy guitar melodies, which after a while switch to the album's most terrifying riff, a dynamic downpicking frenzy that is repeated once more at the end of the song. These are moments of genius that I warmly recommend listening to. The last song on the album is also the longest at 6:34. "Архіпелаг ГУЛАГ (The Gulag Archipelago)" starts off with an epic vibe, which soon turns into hellish grooves and punchy kick drum attacks. Of course, the Bolt Thrower effect could not be avoided there either, but what can you do. All in all, this is a solid first full-length album from Обрій that death metal fans should definitely listen to. I personally really liked the sound, especially the way the drums and cymbals cut through the massive wall of distorted guitars. Ярослав Гроб has captured the essence of the lyrical aspects quite well, so the visual effect is also provided by the cover he designed. We had to wait a long time for this album, but it was totally worth it, that's for sure!!!

I've already written about the 2LP and 3CD reissues of "Tapping the Vein", but I felt I should write a few lines about this 2MC reissue as well. Unfortunately, as with the other formats, I found a few things screwed up with the cassette version. First of all, the booklet says that the first cassette has the remastered version of the original "Tapping the Vein" album, but it doesn't, because it has the Redux version. I don't have a big problem with that, I'm just saying it's wrongly mentioned in the booklet. Secondly, it doesn't even have the Redux version as it is on the vinyl, as it has the alternate remix version of "Reincarnation" with Tom's standard vocals, which was included as a bonus on the digisleeve and bookpack CD versions, along with the other two alternate remix versions, "Body Parts" and "Wachturm". Well, I'm pretty sure that this error happened because the cassettes were dubbed directly from the Redux version CD, which unfortunately has the alternate remix version of "Reincarnation" on it twice. The second cassette contains the "Live in Tokyo 1992" concert, with a total of 12 songs, 6 songs per side. I can't complain about it at all, nice live show with good sound quality and a great setlist, but somehow I'd rather see a remastered version of "Tapping the Vein" on the second cassette. This is just my personal opinion, I mean, if it was limited to 2 cassettes, the perfect combo would be the remastered and Redux versions together. Well, as you may know, the latter version was mixed by Andy Brings, and it's a great gift for Sodom fans. Thanks to him, we get a completely different approach to the whole "Tapping the Vein" album, which overall feels fantastic! The cassettes have black shells and screws, but the quality of the normal position Type I tape inside is not good at all, I would say it is quite poor and doesn't last long. The 4-panel J-card looks awesome, but unfortunately, as it's based on the CD booklet, it omits the lyrics to the songs "Hunting Season" and "Reincarnation", which is a shame. And since the remastered version of the original album was not used for this release, I personally would have preferred to see the artwork of the Redux version on the cover. So, as you can see, for me this edition is far from perfect, which is a pity, because it could have been with care. I mean, a band like Sodom and a masterpiece like "Tapping the Vein" deserves it, and at the highest level, don't you think?!!!