Review by Tomek on November 27, 2016.

I may be coming late with this review since album came out in January 2015, but I said it before and I will say it again: it is always a good time to talk about good stuff. I reviewed their previous album Rise and liked it immensely, had an opportunity to talk to Jochum in my interview, and then I told myself to keep an eye out for those guys… but as you can see that didn't work out too well. Better late than never I guess, so let's see what boys from Tank86 are up to on their new album Obey.

Listening to albums that are strictly instrumental is way different than anything else. They are usually different in structure and composed in such a way that once they start rolling, the idea of vocals seems not only unnecessary, but completely wrong. Tank86 are amazing in what they do and Obey is just another proof of their genius. This album starts with escalating rhythmic riffing that reminds me of Rise; but once they're done with that, they open what seems to be a bottomless pit of riffs that builds up their trademark artistry to new heights. Guitars, bass and even the drums are amazingly relentless on this album and kind of seem to trade or rather talk back and forth with some harmonizing melodies. Song after song they're moving from crushingly heavy to fantastically atmospheric by building their structures on emotions that haunt the listener to then just to go back to straight on heavy pounding. To make things even more interesting, Tank86 introduces some fresh instrumentation into the fold, bringing trumpet and trombone in two of the songs. Guest appearances by friends with instruments only - but it fits so well with everything they did that I'm kinda hoping for more of the same, or maybe some other instruments added on the next album. I'm ok with anything at this point. 8 songs with running time of almost 44 minutes and every time the album ends I have an urge to listen again. It happens every time.

Obey is even better then I hoped it would be, and my congratulations on a job well done go to the whole collective of Tank86. You guys are amazing and I hope you'll never stop what you're doing because your music is inspiring and your message is crystal clear. Even without words.

Rating: 8 out of 10