Soulbound - obsYdian

Angry Metal Guy

Long time readers understand that I like damn near any kind of metal. If it’s got heavily distorted guitars and big, bloodied hooks, I’m on board. My eclecticism inside the metalverse affords me a rare kind of versatility when it comes to review duties, too. Anything that falls into my lap has a chance to get a proper sponge bath. However, sometimes a band does a bunch of stuff that I normally enjoy and yet, my enthusiasm falters. Most of the time, that’s a simple conflict. I just don’t like the songs, even if I like the format. That, dear readers, is precisely the case for German “wedon’tgiveafuckmetal”¹ outfit Soulbound and their fourth LP, obsYdian.

Does anybody remember Powerman 5000? I do. They had some straight-up bangers in their time, like “When Worlds Collide” and “Bombshell.” Sadly, their legacy is one of pure novelty and nostalgia. Undeterred by such circumstances, Soulbound cut their sound from the same cloth, interweaving pop metal elements reminiscent of Amaranthe; creepy gothic industrial rock similar to some of Marilyn Manson’s work; and stompy riffs and a genuinely vicious scream pulled straight from the Static-X playbook. With obsYdian, Soulbound integrated a new, updated thread of synthwave influence into their Eurovision-ready bops, which happens to be a major draw for this reviewer in 2024. And yet, obsYdian still grinds my gears.

Frustration floods my system every time I spin obsYdian. From the start of its overlong instrumental intro to a bizarre two-part closer, Soulbound make questionable choices that keep me listening almost entirely out of morbid curiosity. Starting off with a powerful dose of cringe, opener “Burn” serenades my inner angsty teen with shouts of “BURN, MOTHERFUCKER” against a backdrop of base chuggery. In fact, “motherfucker” features an egregious number of times for a band claiming to give no fucks to begin with. Other missteps include “Lioness,” which I hypothesize speaks on struggling with mental illness, heartbreak, or uncontrolled drug use. Any one of those holds potential for a great theme, but “Lioness” kicks off on a confusing note—a howling wolf—and further befuddles with chorus lyrics that muddle the message beyond easy deduction. Outside of those memorably unfortunate moments in the first half, the bulk of obsYdian fails to make any impression one way or the other. Inoffensive tracks like “Insane” and “Isolate” fight hard for my attention with superficially hooky licks and aggressive bounce. Yet, I remain wholly unmoved. Finally, I reach a real head-scratcher with obsYdian’s bewildering closing duo. “Remain (Part 1),” an ill-fated, three-minute, sappy sadboi ballad, wasn’t the best choice for a late album tuck-in to start with, but Soulbound paired it with a truly puzzling consort: “Remain (Part 2).” After “(Part 1)” ends, “(Part 2)” reprises the main theme of “(Part 1),” at half-time, with orchestral bombast, ad nauseam for a whopping seven minutes of mind-numbing buzzkillery. What the hell is even that?

In all fairness, Soulbound do know their way around a sharp hook once they find one. Top selections like the synthwave worshipping “Forever in the Dark,” the anthemic “Saint Sinner,” and the dance party-ready “Paralyzed” might be cheesy and somewhat oversimplified, but they get my head bobbing and I can’t help but hum each one absentmindedly while out and about. On the sonic front, Soulbound’s shift into synthwave territory suits their particular use of melody wonderfully, especially compared to the more industrial crunch of past records. I hope they capitalize on that further going forward. However, the increased volume of moody ballads like “Heartless” in the back half significantly brings the album’s energy down—enough to discourage replays. My suggestion would be to either revisit and develop those ballads into incontrovertibly captivating showstoppers, or cut them entirely in exchange for one or two more infectious bops like “Forever in the Dark” and “Paralyzed” instead.

Soulbound adopted a sonic palette and a poppy songwriting approach that should’ve wholly resonated with me. It checks a lot of my more superficial boxes. However, I’ve been listening to this kind of music for decades now, and demand more hype and substance than what obsYdian offered. Ultimately, I’m hard-pressed to recommend all but a scant three songs to this readership, and even those come with caveats. That said, you’ll hear no judgment from me should you like Soulbound more than I. It’s just not for me.



Rating: Bad.
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metalville
Website: facebook.com/MusicSoulbound
Releases Worldwide: July 26th, 2024

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