Obscurity is a German melodic death/black metal band with strong viking metal influences hailing from Velbert, a city in the Bergisches Land in North Rhine-Westphalia. They are one of the early German death/black/viking and pagan metal bands.
Obscurity was formed by Agalaz (guitar), Arganar (drums), Nezrac (vocals), Dornaz (guitar) and Ziu (bass) in 1997. The five founding members had already known each other for years before deciding to make their own contribution to metal.
They picked the name Obscurity because in their formative years their musical style could not be clearly assigned to a specific metal genre. Since Obscurity means 'darkness' as well as 'lack of clarity', it is a good description of their extraordinarily comprehensive musical scope. This is even emphasised by the viking metal influences which they developed at a very early stage. Bands playing this kind of metal often choose names originating from Nordic mythology, so the band name is unusual, but it is representative.
Obscurity identify strongly with the Bergisches Land and use the Bergisch Lion, the heraldic emblem of the counts and subsequent dukes of Berg who ruled there in the Middle Ages, as a 'trademark' which features on almost all their releases.
In 2003, founding member Dornaz left Obscurity. He is still a 'stand-by' member of the band and also shared the stage with them on their 10-year anniversary. After Dornaz’ departure experienced guitarist and longtime friend Cortez took up his position. Through his joining of the band they gained more heft and enlarged their musical spectrum.
The same year, the band signed a distribution contract with Twilight for their album Thurisaz.
In 2006, the band signed a new record and distribution deal with Massacre Records for the follow-up album Schlachten & Legenden.
In 2007 Obscurity celebrated their 10-year anniversary. The album Schlachten & Legenden was released in April and distributed by Massacre Records/Soulfood.
In 2008 shouter Nezrac left the band. The same year the group signed a new record contract with the music label SMP/Trollzorn.
The album Várar hit stores in March 2009, being distributed by SMP Records/Soulfood. It was originally planned as a theme album celebrating the 2,000-year anniversary of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The same year, Dornaz returned to the band.
Obscurity have explicitly distanced themselves from any politically extremist views in the metal scene, saying that those involved in metal should combat Nazism and right-wing extremism in general because we prefer to lie ourselves. They vehemently express this position in their booklets, through interview statements, in announcements during live gigs and even in one of their songs.