OBSCURAE
The solo project of San Francisco-based multi-instrumentalist and prolific solo artist Chad Davis (also of Anu, Stench of Evil, Hour of Thirteen, Subklink, Demoncy, Set and many more), Obscurae is the mirror that reflects the darkest corners of the artist’s soul, and which reveals Davis’ most hidden and ominous creative impulses. Born as a sonic worship ritual to complete darkness, through Obscurae Davis has created an imposing black metal wall of sound reminiscent of bands like Darkspace, Thirst, Paysage d'Hiver etc., that advances toward the listener like and unyielding and otherworldly storm of hypnotic and vorticose aural chaos. Handling (mostly) all instruments himself, the project’s sound is developed by Davis through a meticulous and brilliant layering of guitars, basses, synths, drum machines accompanied by a swarm of soul-tearing screams that woven together construct an immense sonic altar of worship toward the void, night, and the magnificence and immensity of total darkness.
The project started in 2016 “as an eternal homage to nightfall" in Davis’ own words and first emerged through the storming aural maelstrom of frost and ravenous winds found in the digital-only debut release “Ensomhet” a thirty minute ode to the absolute void and its all-devouring power which already presented a fully-formed and developed manifestation of Obscurae’s immense and imposing sound. Years of silence passed until Davis re-emerged in 2020 with its evolved successor and alter-ego "To Walk the Path of Sorrows", a magnum opus and revisitation of “Ensomhet” accompanied by a new title to reflect the presence of new tracks and the birth of an entirely new release destined to see the light also on physical formats for the first time ever. “To Walk the Path of Sorrows" was finally released in late 2020 on LP and CD formats via American Decline Records and then early in 2021 by Sentient Ruin for a limited edition cassette tape release.