Oblivion Beckons

Oblivion Beckons
Studio album by Byzantine
Released	January 22, 2008
Genre	Groove metal [1]
Length	53:56
Label	Prosthetic
Producer	Aaron Fisher
Byzantine chronology
…And They Shall Take Up Serpents (2005) Oblivion Beckons (2008) Byzantine (2013)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Decibel	(favorable) [2]
AllMusic	[1]
Blabbermouth.net	[3]

Oblivion Beckons is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Byzantine. It was released on January 22, 2008. According to vocalist Chris "OJ" Ojeda, the band "stripp[ed] down some things like the vocals for a more aggressive style and ... [went] out on a limb on some other things [they] have never tried before." Ojeda also described Oblivion Beckons as being the band's most varied album. ^[4] The album reached #8 on CMJ. ^[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Absolute Horizon"	5:00
2.	"Nadir"	3:41
3.	"Oblivion Beckons"	3:54
4.	"The Gift of Discernment"	5:29
5.	"Expansion and Collapse"	3:44
6.	"Catalyst"	3:36
7.	"Pattern Recognition"	4:14
8.	"Renovation"	2:16
9.	"Centurion"	4:23
10.	"Receiving End of Murder"	4:13
11.	"All Hail the End Times"	3:46
12.	"Deep End of Nothing"	5:38
13.	"A Residual Haunting"	4:11

Personnel

• Chris "OJ" Ojeda – vocals, guitars, piano
• Tony Rohbrough – guitars, keyboards
• Matt Wolfe – drums, acoustic guitar, lead guitar
• Michael "Skip" Cromer – bass, vocals, lead guitar
• Aaron Fisher – producer/engineer
• Drew Mazurek – mixing
• Allen Douches – mastering

Trivia

• During the song "Deep End of Nothing" all four band members trade lead guitar solos since all members played guitar in previous bands before Byzantine.
• The Morse code intro that starts off the album spells out the phrase "Absolute Horizon Brings Death" three times.
• A common theme of death and finality is used throughout the lyrics coinciding with the fulfillment of their recording contract.
• The guitar melody at the beginning and end of "Centurion" is the haunting melody to the classic horror movie "The Howling".
• The album artwork utilizes once again the image of Tovah Miller, who was the actress in the music video for "Jeremiad" and the short performance film on the DVD Salvation .

References

1. AllMusic review
2. Decibel review
3. Blabbermouth.net review
4. "Byzantine: Oblivion Beckons Release Date Announced". Blabbermouth.net . October 13, 2007. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2008.
5. "CMJ Charting: Loud Rock Issue # 1042". CMJ.com. Retrieved February 15, 2008.^{[ dead link ]}