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

Review by Tomek on May 16, 2008.

Nowadays it is pretty hard to find a band that willfully plays music that is somewhat hard to digest, demands numerous listening sessions, or is very interesting. Most bands go for music that’s popular, gets played on the radio at the moment or is just plain, simple and will sell well. Dark Mass chose not to be one of those boring, copycat, uninteresting bands, and I must say that even though it took a while to get used to, their “Dark Mass Medium” became one of my favorite albums.

Sound was the first thing that I’ve noticed. It reminded me a little bit of the Eastern European thrash bands from 80’s. Most of them played very different tunes back then but sounded very similar to each other, simply because of the same studios/garages they’ve used. Ukrainians bring back the garage sound but musically they’re eons away from 80’s bands that I had in mind. I don’t know much about recording of this album, or people that were involved because information was not given to us, but listening to the album brought back some good memories of the bands I listened to growing up. First song on the album wouldn’t be my choice for an album opener but that doesn’t change the fact that after minute or so it got very interesting in a progressive way and kept me listening all the way to the end. Not only to the end of the song but to the end of the album. Very little space between the songs makes it virtually effortless but the real reason is how wonderfully fascinating, inspired and astounding this album simply is. I must mention here that there are NO vocals on this recording. I don’t know why they chose not to have a vocalist in their ranks, but it doesn’t stop them from delivering some most outstanding instrumental storytelling. Lots of excellent guitar shredding, plenty of amazing solos, keyboard intros, eerie backgrounds, classical guitar, piano, jazzy drums and rumbling bass are only some of many ingredients of this strange medium. What glues the whole thing together is the timing. Nothing is too long or too short; nothing is too fast or too slow. Guitars, drums, keyboard, bass all in perfect combination and amount. All balanced and mixed together in exquisite harmony.

I can’t ever get bored with this record. Every spin gives me something new, something I’ve missed before or something that was kept in a background and comes out after few listens. Every time this album ends I just sit there waiting for next song that isn’t there. I can’t stop myself from pressing play again and try to find more and more that’s been hidden from me. Whenever “Dark Mass Medium” ends I have a feeling of something overlooked or missed, I have a constant feeling that I need to listen to it again. For me this album ends way too quickly. It’s my only complaint.

Categorical Rating Breakdown:

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.6 out of 10