Obituary, Frozen in Time
The boys from Florida are back, baby! It’s been a very long eight years since this bands last release. I can honestly say that I missed them.
The End Complete was one of those albums that really reinforce my love for this music. It was dark. It was heavy. Hell it’s subject matter revolved about the end of it all. It will surely be remembered as a classic for me that I still listen to this day.
On the floor
Their latest release is nothing revolutionary. That said this album’s sounds as though it were locked away in a block of ice that has only now been thawed out. It’s the classic Obituary sound with the band doing what they do best – producing the apocalyptic music that my ears have missed for far too long.
John Tardy’s voice sounds just as great and nasty as ever. His brother, Donald, on drums has lost nothing (even with his stint with Andrew W.K.). And the boys on guitars and bass continue to produce some of the darkest riffs out there.
The band opens up with a riff-filled, bass drum heavy instrumental that is more than just that. It’s a wake up call to the world, letting them know that Obituary is back. It will have your head nodding long before John starts screaming “On the floor” in the second track. The band has abandoned the samples and extra stuff that they attempted to incorporate on the last release prior to their hiatus from the music scene. There are the occasional echoed fade applied to some of Tardy’s more aggressive and lengthy screams, but they take nothing away from the song.
Track 8, “Slow Death,” has some of the most intense drumming that I’ve heard from this band in any of their previous releases. The song title is appropriate for this track in the sense that I can imagine this being the sound of being beaten to death by Donald’s drum setup. The drumming on this track is absolutely crushing.
“Denied” immediately follows up after that intense drumming with a sound and vocal groove that could have easily been found on The End Complete. In fact, the first time I heard it I wasn’t really paying attention to it and thought I was listening to a cover/remake of one of the songs off of The End. I had to listen to it a few times before it was all clear. This is the classic Obituary sound at its best on this album.
As you can tell from the fan boy rant above, I fucking loved this album. I gave it a 5 out of 5 because I’m so geeked out about having a new release from one of my all time favorite bands. Thanks for coming back guys.
Favorite Tracks:
All of them