Left to right: Benjamin Baret, Matt Klavins, Tim Charles, Xenoyr, Brendan "Cygnus" Brown, Daniel Presland
Ne Obliviscaris are a mostly Australian Progressive Metal band (lead guitarist Benjamin Baret is French, and current bassist Martino Garattoni is Italian) who incorporate elements of Melodic Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Classical Music, Avant-Garde Music, Jazz, and flamenco. They are unusual in the crowded field of progressive metal for the prominently featured violin virtuosity of Tim Charles. However, all of the musicians in the band are quite capable (Daniel Presland has even won an award for his drumming prowess) and their music never fails to be compositionally interesting as well. Ne Obliviscaris have garnered quite a lot of critical acclaim for their releases thus far.
Discography:
- The Aurora Veil (2007, demo)
- Portal of I (2012)
- Citadel (2014)
- Sarabande to Nihil (2015, EP of Portal of I outtakes for supporters of the band's crowdfunded tour campaign, although recorded in 2014)
- Hiraeth (2015, EP of pre-Aurora Veil material for supporters of the band's crowdfunded tour campaign)
- Urn (2017)
- Exul (2023)
Band members:
- Tim Charles - violin, clean vocals (2003-)
- Xenoyr - growled vocals (2003-)
- Matt Klavins - guitar (2004-)
- Benjamin Baret - lead guitar (2009-)
- Martino Garattoni - bass (2018-)
Former members:
- Sheri Vengeance - clean vocals (2003–2004)
- Adam Boddy - guitar (2003–2004)
- Adam Cooper - bass (2003–2004)
- Corey Baker - drums (2003–2005)
- Corey King - guitar (2004–2008)
- Nelson Barnes - drums (2011–2012)
- Brendan "Cygnus" Brown - bass (2005-2017)
- Daniel Presland - drums (2005-2011, 2012-2022)
Here where colours collide! This black hole ignites! My trope in bloom!:
- Ascended Extra: Martino Garattoni.
- Black Metal: They have most commonly been described as "progressive black metal". Black metal isn't a primary influence on their style like progressive metal and rock are, but they incorporate elements of it such as tremolo picking, blast beats, and the scream style commonly used by Xenoyr, and they're clearly inspired by other progressive black metal bands like Enslaved and Sigh.
- Domestic Abuse: This is what got Brendan Brown kicked out of both this band and Vipassi. Brown, in turn, seems to have been a victim of parental abuse and to have taken his firing as a wake-up call, admitting that it was justified and noting that he was seeking professional help to change his behaviour and put an end to the cycle of abuse that he was part of.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Mostly averted. As Hiraeth reveals, the band's Signature Style was well established by the time they began recording. There is a bit more tremolo picking than on some of the later material, but it's not a radical change. (The EPs were new recordings, but the material was evidently written early into the band's career.)
- Epic Instrumental Opener: Several songs have these. The one for "Painters of the Tempest" is even divided into its own track.
- Epic Rocking: All over the place, as is obligatory for Progressive Metal, but the best example has to be the three-part "Painters of the Tempest", which is twenty-three minutes long. As of 2022, they have only released five songs under eight minutes in length: the 4:47 "All the Scarlet Tears", the 5:51 "Of the Leper Butterflies", the 6:59 "Felo de se", the 7:29 "Intra Venus", and the 3:43 "Anhedonia". (Note, however, that Citadel had two of the songs divided into multiple tracks, three of which were under four minutes; one of the movement divisions on Urn is also under four minutes.)
- Genre-Busting: Despite commonly being billed as progressive black metal, they aren't really representative of any genre thanks to how they blend numerous different styles in a way that defies easy classification.
- Gratuitous Latin: The band's name means "Never forget" in Latin (though the significance is somewhat justified by personal relation, as "Ne Obliviscaris" is the motto for the Scottish clan of Xenoyr's surname, Campbell). The song title "Felo de se" means "Felon of Himself" and is an archaic legal term used to refer to suicide until around the seventeenth century. Their name is even stealthily dropped in their debut album under the title track "Forgot Not" (which is the band's official translation of their name).
- Gratuitous Panning: Crops up quite a bit, likely to make it easier to differentiate the members' parts. This is particularly effective when listening on headphones.
- Harsh Vocals: As indicated by the "band members" list.
- Lead Bassist: Brendan Brown and Martino Garattoni both qualify as Type As.
- Lead Drummer: Presland, given that he's won awards for his drumming prowess and is a highly respected name in drumming circles as a whole.
- Left-Handed Mirror: Baret (as well as Brown when he was a part of the band) play lefthanded, which created an interesting mirror effect when the band played live, where the leftys would stand on the opposite end of the stage, mirroring each other in a way.
- Lonely Piano Piece: "Painters of the Tempest (Part I): Wyrmholes"
- Loudness War: Most of their releases have been clipped on CD (though not as badly as a lot of other offenders, and because there are also a lot of quiet passages with no clipping, they're not as fatiguing as they would be otherwise, either). The Blood Music vinyl editions do not have this problem at all; the Season of Mist ones are a bit clipped, but not as conspicuously as the CD versions.
- Mood Whiplash: Done intentionally and quite frequently to put more emphasis on the quiet and loud parts.
- Progressive Metal: Their primary style. They take influence from many others, as is almost mandatory for prog bands at this point.
- Revolving Door Band: In addition to the five current members of the band, seven other people have been members of the band throughout the years.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Their song titles, and quite a lot of their lyrics too.
- Soprano and Gravel: An interesting case in that, since the band has two vocalists, they frequently have the soprano element overlaid with the gravel. Most metal bands that use this trope use one at a time. The printed lyrics for each album generally differentiate the two vocalists' parts by using different type styles for each (for instance, by printing Xenoyr's parts in bold and Charles' parts in italic).
- Special Guest: Robin Zielhorst (Exivious) performed session bass on Urn in the wake of Brendan Brown's departure, while Martino Garattoni (Ancient Bards) performed as a live fill-in after Brown was fired and eventually became full-time in 2018.
- Start My Own: Baret, Brown, and Presland started the instrumental project Vipassi with Ben Boyle (A Million Dead Birds Laughing) sometime in the mid-00s and will finally be releasing an album in 2016. Brown was fired from the project at the same time as Ne Obliviscaris, and Arran McSporran (Virvum, De Profundis) eventually took his spot.
- Subdued Section: One of the many ways through which their music derives contrast.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Painters of the Tempest (Part III): Reveries from the Stained Glass Womb", which solely consists of an acoustic guitar and violin.
- Technical Death Metal: They could be considered progressive death metal due in particular to Xenoyr's common use of death growls, and this is the direction that they skew most heavily towards circa Urn.
- Uncommon Time: Since they are a progressive metal band, this crops up commonly.
- Vocal Tag Team: Xenoyr and Tim Charles have about equal time in front of the microphone.
- Word Salad Title: Lots of them.
