Review by Lumina on May 14, 2026.

If you told me that a Vtuber would go on to make one of the best instrumental death metal albums I've ever heard, would I have believed you? Probably not, but here we are. Obkatiekat is a Vtuber, something I'm decently familiar with but don't really watch myself. Despite this, when I found her profile on Spotify, I got interested after hearing her cover of the Spiritbox song "Circle With Me" (one of my favorite songs from Spiritbox, I might add). That cover was very heavy on the instrumentals, which made me want to try her full-length, further supported by the admittedly very cool album cover featuring a classic, unreadable logo in the background.

Firstly, this album is fully instrumental, which is a big plus for me. Instrumental works sometimes have the issue of being slightly boring, since the instrumentation has to make up for the lack of vocals. Did she achieve this here? Very much so in my opinion. Two small fun facts about the album: from what I've heard, this entire thing was supposedly written within two months, which is insanely impressive considering the quality. Additionally, a version with vocals is supposedly in the works, though I'm not sure when that'll come around.

As for the instrumentals, this is one of those rare releases where I'd say they're almost perfect for what this album is trying to do. The guitar stands out just a bit above the drums in my opinion. A nice overall tone, great riffs throughout the album—there's just about everything you could ask for. Admittedly, the bass isn't very noticeable in most sections, though I don't feel that really matters.

I should also mention track one, "Moonlight Sonata", which I assume is partly taken from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". This is the only non-metal track on here, though it's one of my favorite album intros. It sounds very dark, and at times even more evil than the rest of the album. Overall, it sets a great foundation for the rest of the album with its dark atmosphere. Its follow-up, "Faded", also has a subtle melancholic quality to it (the intro reminds me of something as well, though to this day I have no idea what), which is quite calming.

Overall, this is one of my favorite releases ever, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of instrumental metal.

Favorite Tracks: 'Moonlight Sonata', 'Faded', '666PM', 'Nekomancer', 'Listen'
(Honestly, I could've chosen any of the other songs as well—they're all amazing.)

Rating: 9.5 out of 10