Oblivion Beckons is the third studio album by Charleston

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

 heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Byzantine

Byzantine (band)

Byzantine is a heavy metal band from Charleston, West Virginia that formed in 2000. The band consists of frontman and co-founder Chris "OJ" Ojeda , Brian Henderson , Matt Wolfe and Michael "Skip" Cromer . They have released three studio albums on Prosthetic Records...

. 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. The album reached #8 on CMJ.

Track listing

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. "Renovatio" – 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, Lead/Rhythm Guitar, Piano
• Tony Rohbrough - Lead/Rhythm Guitar, Keys
• Matt Wolfe - Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Guitar
• Michael "Skip" Cromer - Bass, Vocals, Lead Guitar
• Charles 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" 3 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 Howling (film)
  The Howling is a 1981 werewolf-themed horror film directed by Joe Dante. Based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the screenplay is written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless...
  
  ".
• 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
  Salvation (DVD)
  Salvation is a DVD that was released April 17, 2007 from West Virginia heavy metal band Byzantine via Prosthetic Records. It was filmed, directed, and edited by Donnie Searls, owner of the production company Every Second Pictures...
  
  ".