Obscura is a German technical death metal band founded in Landshut in 2002 by guitarist and vocalist Steffen Kummerer, drawing on the progressive death metal lineage of Cynic, Atheist, and Death. Their second album Cosmogenesis (2009) on Relapse Records broke the band internationally, debuting on Billboard charts and earning placement on numerous lists of essential death metal records. The band has continued releasing critically recognized albums including Omnivium (2011) and Akróasis (2016), maintaining a position at the forefront of the technical death metal genre.

Obsidious is a German technical and progressive death metal band formed in 2020 by three former members of Obscura — guitarist Rafael Trujillo, bassist Linus Klausenitzer, and drummer Sebastian Lanser — joined by vocalist Javi Perera. The band coalesced immediately following their amicable departure from Obscura and quickly signed to Season of Mist, releasing their debut album Iconic, which carried forward the intricate, melodically sophisticated approach to technical death metal cultivated in their prior work with Obscura and Alkaloid.