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Obituary The indwelling horror of death common to most mortals paralyzes life into an avoiding existence free of risks and challenges in the grip of fear. This frightened state of unknown nature of which humans are powerless to control, and thus keeps them on a fruitless quest to elude the ending of life finds central expression through the languages of death metal which communicates the opposite and dwells on mortality to the extremes of mocking death and the fear it instills in reflection of that which keeps humanity from achieving greater heights: Fear and dread of death, the natural order of which without there could be no life. Obituary emerges from Florida’s swamplands with a pestilent metal taking cues from the likes of Possessed, Slayer and early Celtic Frost in the development of what can be seen as the origin of pure death metal, in tone, imagery and theme. Slowly We Rot is heavy metal hemorrhaging. A guitar tone more sickening one would be hard pressed to discover before this putrid affair. Vocals pushed to the brink of insanity inhumanly howl out in wordless horror morbidity in goresoaked objectives in tones that articulate beyond words. Monstrosity in the form of oncoming dread breathes deeply beneath this music, crawling out from graves of thought led by the stench of rot. Lurking in every direction of fields of decomposition shadows of the deceased reluctantly projecting the method of their earthly exit as reminders of the many paths to the tomb awaiting the arrogantly unsuspecting living. Blistering guitar leads flow like streams of blood through rises and falls piercing without warning through the barrage of thick morass of riffs that sludge through dread with the weight of drumming that hammers nails into coffins and bass guitar locked down by the heft of the perished. Obituary play rhythm-based death metal in simplistically structured, short songs varying from each other and within individual tracks in tempos of lumbering slowness, mid-paced attacks and high-speed thrashings. The standard death metal intensity-enhancer of the blast-beat is an absent method in the band’s repertoire, choosing instead to pummel the listener with blunt force of expressions of sickness and horror. This music functions in the depths of depravity frequently interrupted by bursts of short-lived urgency before settling into double-bass driven lurchings the sonic equivalent of the reptile-infested swamps of their native Florida. Not as technically inclined as fellow Floridians Morbid Angel or even Deicide, Obituary thrive in brutality through simplicity to asphyxiate the listener through the representation of death’s various shapes. Slowly We Rot is sacred death metal, to use perhaps an inappropriate adjective. It’s divine in what it expresses for its purity of death’s completeness. Through the infinite landscape of imaginable extinguishment of human existence, Obituary make ugly music beyond what the common conceives. In the encounter of these gates to earthly perdition, one is rightly humbled by the confrontation of the inevitable ending of life, and is left to either shrivel in spirit like the dead leaves of dying Autumn in anticipation of death’s arrival, or rise to the embrace of life in the seeking of its joyful rewards and limitless beauty, in the knowing that life here is fleeting.
Tracklisting: 1. Internal Bleeding2. Godly Beings Roadrunner records released remastered versions of Slowly We Rot in 1997, featuring the bonus demo versions of "Find The Arise" and "Like The Dead" as tracks 13 and 14.
Obituary Obituary refine their rhythmic death metal to its sharpest, deadliest point on third effort The End Complete. Logical advancement in regards to relations between instruments for tightened execution and compositional arrangement award Obituary’s music a more intense presence and a focus that doesn’t find much more clarity than this through this form of presentation. As Obituary are a band who understand their limits and strengths within this style, this is a genuine work never succumbing to overburdening exercises or unnecessary meanderings. Death is final, and this is music reflecting the process of that finality through the vision of those living in the knowledge and acceptance of life’s end. The by now familiar formula of Obituary’s attack of simplistic, rhythm-oriented death metal exercised through brief songs is here draped with grey dreariness largely due to the cold thickness of guitars of diseased tone churning forth bleak riffs more commonly associated with doom metal. The despair hovering above like black clouds seeps into the sickness of these songs, confronting one with the grim reality of death not in a defeatist sense, but rather as an awakening of sorts to the preciousness of life and appreciation of time allowed to revel in life’s positive aspects, in the knowing of the end. Death is real. To deny this fact, or to live in avoidance of possible death either in thought or action, is to ultimately deny life. Those unchained to a society of meaninglessness that shelters people from the realities of existence, of course, will hear this, while the others will cast such works off as "depressing". John Tardy’s anguished vocal discharge has found shape in words intelligible through the forcefulness of his voice. Though these themes remain clear enough from titles such as "I’m In Pain" and "Rotting Ways", his pronounced vocalizations bring the concepts to higher awareness within song. The spine of this music as formed by the simple-yet-effective rhythm section has discovered a clever stringency guiding these tracks through singular yet menacing landscapes of sound, trudging amongst the lifeless fields of which the living fear to dream. Ill with nausea though striking out in vitriolic rage, the music of Obituary suffocates the fearful with the rot of dead humans, ranking high on the kill meter in the face of denial. The End Complete simply builds on the Obituary formula and finds the band developing in subtle yet reasonable manners. This is the extent to which death metal can envelope itself in such dreary tones, flirting with the realms of despair, while still remaining what it is. For a portrayal of Obituary’s most effectively executed version of their craft and completeness of vision and level of composition while still within the realms of pure death metal and before inspiration ran dry, The End Complete is required.
Tracklisting: 1. I’m In Pain
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