A Valediction

A Valediction is the sixth studio album by the German technical death metal band Obscura. It was released by the music label Nuclear Blast on 19 November 2021.

Background
The album was written and recorded separately by the band members during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recordings were then sent to Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden. The vocals and acoustic guitar parts were recorded there and the final album was mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström.

Music videos were released for the tracks "Solaris", "A Valediction", "Devoured Usurper", "When Stars Collide", "The Neuromancer" and "Heritage".

Reception
Kevin Stewart-Panko of Metal Injection wrote "As far as technical death metal goes, A Valediction will receive deserved glowing praise from fans and heaps of critical brown nosing from those in the know." Sean Mclennan of New Noise stated the album "contains a collection of the band's most vibrant and emotive material heard on record."

Personnel
Obscura
 * Steffen Kummerer – guitar, vocals
 * Christian Münzner – guitar
 * Jeroen Paul Thesseling – bass
 * David Diepold – drums

Additional personnel
 * Fredrik Nordström – producer, mixing, mastering
 * Mathias Garmusch, Robert Kukla, Yuma van Eekelen – additional engineering
 * Björn Strid – vocals (track 4)
 * Eliran Kantor – artwork
 * Vincent Grundke – photography