OBITUARY
A healthy dose of Florida Death Metal is always welcome and this new album from Obituary isn’t bad at all – not stunning, admittedly, but pretty darn good all the same. I was a huge Obituary fan back in the day, seeing them religiously along with the other death metal behemoths of the 80s and early 90s. Obituary were as heavy as you got back then! Now there’s a clarity and to tell the truth they are not as heavy as I remember – I can even tell what vocalist John Tardy is singing about these days! I don’t want you to think Obituary have wimped out on us all, though, as this is still death metal and very enjoyable as much for its organic feel along with good song writing and some enjoyable lead guitar playing from Ralph Santolla which really stand out making me feel what it was like when we first heard some of those James Murphy leads on ‘Cause Of Death’. The sense is that this feels like a very easy album and has the ability to transport us away from triggered blast beats and pro tools technical death metal taking us back to the great days when Celtic Frost ruled the roost and Xecutioner was a name creeping into all our minds before exploding onto the scene as Obituary with ‘Slowly We Rot’. Special mention must go, also, to Donald Tardy’s drumming (and drum sound) – it feels organic and live giving a vibrant backbone to the whole to allow Trevor Peres and Daniel Tucker to create that Obituary death metal sound (albeit a slightly cleaner version). This album will certainly do! I can feel a good few weeks of listening through to Obituary albums is on the horizon!
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Candlelight Records
Album
DARKEST DAY
Review by Paul Sims
RUNNING TIME:
52:39
RELEASE DATE:
15th June 2009
TRACK LISTING
1) List of Dead
2) Blood to Give
3) Lost
4) Outside My Head
5) Payback
6) Your Darkest Day
7) This Life
8) See Me Now
9) Fields of Pain
10) Violent Dreams
11) Truth Be Told
12) Forces Realign
2) Blood to Give
3) Lost
4) Outside My Head
5) Payback
6) Your Darkest Day
7) This Life
8) See Me Now
9) Fields of Pain
10) Violent Dreams
11) Truth Be Told
12) Forces Realign
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"The sense is that this feels like a very easy album and has the ability to transport us away from triggered blast beats and pro tools technical death metal taking us back to the great days when Celtic Frost ruled..."