Obsidious guitarist Rafael Trujillo delivers one of the most technically formidable playthroughs of the year with this 7-string prog-metal masterclass

For five years between 2015 and 2020, Rafael Trujillo lent his undeniable technical prowess to German technical death metal mainstays Obscura. 

Now, alongside fellow former Obscura men Linus Klausenitzer on bass guitar and Sebastian Lanser on drums – as well as newcomer Javi Perera on vocals – Trujillo makes up one quarter of modern prog-metal trailblazers, Obsidious.

And with their debut album, Iconic, which arrived last week, the newly formed four-piece serve up 10 intricately composed and brutally delivered tracks, which highlight, first and foremost, Trujillo’s insane chops.

Standout moments include the riff-happy savagery of I Am, or the delicately placed melodic leads of expansive closing cut Lake of Afterlife, but no track is quite as packed to the rafters with killer guitar moments as the album’s sprawling near-seven-minute title track.

In this new playthrough – premiered exclusively at Guitar World – Trujillo arms himself with his headless Kiesel Osiris 7-string guitar, coupled with the “massive sound of Neural DSP plugins”, as he explains, to play an unrelenting barrage of riff-mad, lead-heavy guitar wizardry.

The track’s intro lead sets the tone, with an eight-second run carved with string-skipping alternate picking, awe-inspiring sweeps and even a flavoring of two-handed tapping, but things get really impressive when Trujillo deploys his enviably fast tremolo picking.

“Iconic has a lot of fast tremolo picking in the rhythm guitar parts and some unusual note groupings in the leads,” the guitarist explains. “This is definitely the most challenging song of the entire album for me.”

Watch the video above and you’ll either become very inspired or very uninspired to pick up your guitar. We just hope it’s the former.

• Iconic (opens in new tab) is out now via Season of Mist.