Obituary deliver their best work in over 25 years There is a common link in the evolution of Death Metal, from Venom and Celtic Frost to Possessed, through to Death and onto Obituary. The West Coast of the USA held sway with Thrash Metal for much of the mid 80’s, but it was the East Coast’s turn to pick up the pace in the late 80’s with Florida’s favourite Death Metal band, Obituary. Obituary are a band as famous for John Tardy’s stalking growl as they are for their lyrics revolving around death, dissections and gore.
Late last year, we reviewed Obituary live on tour with Exodus with the Battle of the Bays tour and their split live/studio album Ten Thousand Ways to Die with a resounding sigh of ‘meh’. Both live and in the studio, Obituary felt as if they were grinding through the motions, live they felt distant, a million miles away and couldn’t wait to get off the stage, whilst the studio tracks of the 6 minute plod of Loathe taking any enjoyment away from the title track. It was with a dubious caution that a new studio album from Obituary was approached. Here we are though, in 2017 with Obituary’s latest self-titled album and where do you begin? Well, for a start, Obituary are back, kicking off with the brutality of Brave, it may not be Slowly We Rot with a riff borrowed from the Slayer songbook, but it is a fantastic way to kick off Obituary. Brave announces that Obituary have returned, Tardy’s voice is on point and never mind the foot tapping that goes along with it, before too long you’ll notice that the head starts to bang too! Tardy has a distinct voice, that clawing shout to growl which make Obituary instantly recognisable and there perfect examples of this on Obituary with Turned to Stone and pleading of End It Now; the latter of which and the closing track of Ten Thousand Ways to Die may be some of the best tracks that Obituary have ever recorded. Obituary never lets up, it clocks in at around 35 minutes making it short, sweet and difficult to lose your attention; all the hallmarks of a decent album. The ever present Trevor Peres’ guitar claws through the mix, chugging away like a chainsaw swallowing down its gasoline, helped along with the stuttering blast beats of Donald Tardy which make tracks such as A Lesson in Vengeance, the superb End It Now and Straight to Hell with their almost Autopsy style grind chorus so appealing; Obituary haven’t sounded this good in years. The lead guitar slot is still taken by new guy Kenny Andrews, even though Andrews has been a solid part of the line-up for 5 years now, it is Obituary where Andrews comes into his own with some beautiful wah solos. In fact, the solo for Sentence Day wouldn’t be out of place on Kill ‘Em All and easily puts Kirk Hammett to shame. When you think about it, Obituary have possibly recorded one of the best albums of 2017 and certainly it is their best work since Cause of Death in 1990. After more than a few lacklustre years, Obituary are back and doing what they do best. After the disappointing live/studio album, Ten Thousand Ways to Die and witnessing two disappointing shows, one with Exodus, the other with Carcass, it is time. Welcome back Obituary, all is forgiven. 8/10 Adam McCann
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