History
2002–2007
16-year-old Steffen Kummerer formed Illegimitation in 2002, just "a few months after" buying his first guitar. [1] The original lineup included Kummerer and Armin Seitz on guitars, Martin Ketzer on bass and vocals, and Jonas Baumgartl on drums and cello. [2] The band recorded a self-titled demo in November 2003. [3] Ketzer left in early 2004 due to the band's "manic rehearsing schedule", with Seitz following "a few weeks later" to focus on his education. [4] Summerer subsequently took over vocals and wrote the material for Retribution with Baumgartl ahead of recording in the summer. [4] For the group's only show during this period, Ernst "Azmo" Wurdak was enlisted to play bass live. [5]
Recording for Retribution took place in August 2004. [6] Kummerer tried to enlist former Pestilence bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling to play bass on the album, but due to scheduling conflicts was forced to record them himself. [4] The band's name was changed to Obscura during the album's recording. [1] After a brief hiatus while Kummerer focused on his recently formed second band Thulcandra, [7] the band self-released Retribution in 2005, by which time guitarist Markus Lempsch and bassist Jonas Fischer had joined the lineup. [4] Touring continued throughout 2006, before Lempsch announced his departure in January 2007 due to "scheduling conflicts and other obligations". [8] By April, he had been replaced by Johannes Rennig. [9] For a tour in September that year, Matthias "Seraph" Landes of Dark Fortress temporarily filled in for the temporarily unavailable Baumgartl. [10]
2007–2014
After the September 2007 tour, Baumgartl left Obscura permanently, alongside bassist Jonas Fischer, with former Necrophagist drummer Hannes Grossmann taking over on drums. [11] According to Steffen Kummerer, Fischer had actually left before the end of the tour, forcing the band to play as a three-piece for a few shows. [4] In December, it was announced that Jeroen Paul Thesseling had replaced Fischer as Obscura's bassist. [12] In January 2008, guitarist Johannes Rennig was replaced by Christian Münzner, a former bandmate of Grossmann in Necrophagist. [13]
Christian Münzner was Obscura's second guitarist between 2008 and 2014, then again from 2020 to 2024.
With the new lineup of Kummerer, Münzner, Thesseling and Grossmann, Obscura signed with Relapse Records and released their second album Cosmogenesis in February 2009. [14] For a European tour in October that year, Thesseling was replaced at most shows by Jacob Schmidt of Defeated Sanity. [15] After rejoining Pestilence, Thesseling was also unavailable for a Japanese tour in June 2010, with prolific bassist Steve Di Giorgio filling in for him. [16] The official lineup released Omnivium in March 2011, [17] with Schmidt returning for shows around the same time in place of Thesseling. [18] By July, Thesseling had officially left Obscura, citing "repetitive conflicting schedules". [19] When Kummerer later claimed that the band had fired the bassist in January, Thesseling responded that he had been unable to tour consistently due to financial difficulties, leading to him quitting in April. [20]
Linus Klausenitzer, who had filled in for Thesseling during recent tour dates, officially took over as Obscura's full-time bassist in September 2011. [21] The new lineup made just three demo recordings featured on the 2012 Illegimitation compilation, [4] before both Münzner and Grossmann left the band in July 2014 — the guitarist explained that his departure was mainly "to devote the biggest part of the time that I have to work on my own music and visions", while the drummer noted that "In the last two years it just became more and more obvious that the musical chemistry between band founder Steffen and me just wasn't right anymore", assuring that "It's not a personal issue, it's a musical one". [22]
2014–2024
Obscura announced the replacements for Christian Münzner and Hannes Grossmann as Tom "Fountainhead" Geldschläger and Sebastian Lanser, respectively, in September 2014. [23] [24] The new lineup released Akróasis in February 2016. [25] Prior to the album's release, the band unveiled Rafael Trujillo as their new guitarist in November 2015, following Geldschläger's departure in July. [26] The new lineup issued the band's fifth album Diluvium in July 2018. [27] During a tour towards the end of the year, Steffen Kummerer was unavailable for a run of shows after his passport and luggage were stolen, so members of support bands Beyond Creation (Simon Girard and Kevin Chartré), Exist (Max Phelps and Alex Weber) and Inferi (Stevie Boiser) stood in for the vocalist. [28] In April 2020, Kummerer announced the dismissal of Trujillo, Klausenitzer and Lanser due to "musical differences". [29]
Replacements for the departed band members were announced over the following month — a week after news of the change, bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling returned to the band; [30] in mid-May, David Diepold took over on drums; [31] and at the end of the month, former guitarist Christian Münzner also rejoined the group. [32] The new lineup released A Valediction on Nuclear Blast Records in November 2021. [33] For shows early the next year in North America, Thesseling and Diepold were unavailable due to "visa issues", with Alex Weber and Gabe Seeber performing in their places. [34] The regular members returned for European shows later in the year, but Thesseling had officially left by the end of the year. [35] Weber and Seeber continued performing with Obscura during 2023 and 2024. [36] [37] A few shows in the summer of 2024 featured Ype Terwisscha van Scheltinga on bass. [38]
Since 2024
In August 2024, Christian Münzner announced his second departure from Obscura, which he credited to "creative differences". [39] The next month, a new lineup of the band featuring guitarist Kevin Olasz, bassist Robin Zielhorst and drummer James Stewart was announced. [40] A new album, A Sonication , was released in February 2025. [41] Touring for the album has featured a lineup of Stummerer alongside guitarist Vince Wilquin, bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout and drummer Clément Denys. [42]
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