OBITUARY – DYING OF EVERYTHING

80%

Doing Death metal since 1989 is a pretty remarkable feat.  There is a half dozen or so death metal bands that have carved out their own niche in the genre and Obituary is definitely one of them.   Doomy lyrical content and trudging bass, highly distorted fuzzy groovy guitar riffs are the trademark of this band.

The band is based out of Tampa Florida with John Tardy (vocals), Donald Tardy (drums), Trever Peres (Rhythm guitar), Terry Butler (Bass) and Ken Andrews (lead guitar).

The album Dying of Everything was released Jan 13 2023, but mostly written during pandemic, and finally released now.   Who can blame them waiting it out?  I think it was a smart move considering many that did release at that time, had their albums forgotten about, and not even toured with.   Dying of Everything was also self produced in Obituary’s own studio, so no outside influencers here.  The last one, Obituary was released back 6 years ago in 2017, as they really needed some new material to tour with.

Lets hear what these boys came up with their 11th album, called Dying of Everything (Relapse)

Barely alive –  A super fast and frantic song for Obituary.  Does this work?  Damn well it does.   John’s voice enunciation is great here on this one.   Digging the speed metal riffs and with a torrid breakdown.  Love the whammy work and solos Ken does here.  Like it! Good start.

The Wrong time – Ok, this is typical Obituary pace I am used to with these guys.  Nice groove and the Johns vocals are dragging the swamp on this one.  The song is about 50 seconds too long, could’ve ended it at that last pause.

Without a conscience – Seems like the song pace has settled and in the direction we are used to hearing.   This is Obituary we are used to hearing the last few albums with lots of groove riffs.  Did you hear it at the about the 1:45 mark in the song?  That is a drum fill from Pantera’s “Mouth for War”.   Donald has that as tribute to  the late Vinnie Paul.

War – Is this a cover of Metallica’s “One”?   I was expecting  some acoustic guitar to kick in on this after the gun fire.  John is taking us to “Wwwwwwar” on this one, as the wall of high gain distortion kicks in with a wicked doom riff.  Hey, its basic Obituary song with more cool riffs and solos but little lyrical content.   5 second clean guitar break that Trevor does was a nice touch.  More of an instrumental I think.

Dying of everything – This one has some upbeat drumming at the start here.  Then we hear lots of speedy chords thereafter.   It’s got a a nice mix fat guitar sounds and you head will be bobbing after the last 1/3 of the song.   They do another one of those stop and start up the song with about 30 seconds to go, just to make sure you got enough of the main riff.

My will to live – Here is a really nice mid tempo beat going here, back to your typical Obituary speed and chord progression.

By The Dawn – I call this the Bee song because at the 35 second mark the have the guitars on max fuzz that sounds like a pissed off bees nest.  David Austin of the band Nasty Savage does guest leads on this one

Weaponize the hate – This one is a grinder with lots of double bass.  This is a catchy brainworm of a song.  I think it should’ve been higher up on the album but maybe they wanted the end of the album to end strong?.

Torn Apart – This one was written by Ken.   Its abit faster with more emphasis on Ken’s solo here.  I like it

Be Warned – Yes be warned, this is the slowest song on the album by far.  And I love SLOW Obituary songs.  Interesting how they started this album with the fastest song and then ended with the slowest.

Overall, it’s a solid album from Obituary who do not deviate far from their typical formula they’ve followed all these years.  Is it better than the 2017 release?  Close, but I really fancied that album Obituary and it got lots of plays.  Johns singing is actually pretty clear to understand here, which is not common in alot of death metal.  His voice seems to be getting even better over the years.   All of the tracks seem to have their own character and uniqueness, and variety as a couple are wicked fast, with others almost painfully, but oh so heavy slow.  This one might grown on me over time though, as it seems to get better with every play.  I recommend you get this one.

Obituary – Dying of Everything

Released: January 13 2023

Produced by:  Obituary

01. Barely Alive
02. The Wrong Time
03. Without A Conscience
04. War
05. Dying Of Everything
06. My Will To Live
07. By The Dawn
08. Weaponize The Hate
09. Torn Apart
10. Be Warned

 

 

RATING
HIGHLY RECOMMEND 80%

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