This is a "love it" or "hate it" type of release because the songs aren't very fast, the lyrics lack any source of depth to them and so forth. But to me, there isn't much here that isn't out of place in terms of capturing that old Obituary sound to it again. Like I mentioned, the rhythms are slow and there were no really fast drum beats into your ear though the songs still kick ass. Yes the mixing could've been a bit better in terms of it balancing out the guitars. Though overall, I really did like this. Again however the lyrics weren't especially interesting. John Tardy's vocals are as effective on this release than on pretty much all of their past releases. But whoever did the songwriting lyrically was simply lacking entirely. The reason is because most of the tracks were just too repetitive lyrically. The same things spewing forth on some tracks made the album less effective than if they chose to put some intelligence into them.

Guitar wise their speeds as I mentioned are slow but really dark and catchy. Definitely a plus! Most of the songwriting was effective. Yes they're getting older age wise however I think that their choice to keep their rhythms slower was because they wanted to focus more on having them sound really depressing. That's just what I think on this end. What stands out the most on this release to me are the lead guitars by Ralph Santolla and Trevor Peres. They were simply awesome! The leads were fast, innovative, filled with arpeggios, sweep picking, etc. To me, I was extremely impressed! It's amazing that they were able to accomplish this. Their talent definitely shows from that standpoint.

The music itself was no 'Cause of Death' (1990) but it did have a lot of strong points to it. The songs are not that fast really though they exhibited sort of a groove based death metal sound. Not stunning, but very noteworthy. I don't think that it's their strongest release but in conclusion a definitely killer post-reunion album. If you're a true Obituary fan, then my guess is that you'll like this. Some songs to check out are 'Evil Ways', 'Drop Dead' and 'Bloodshot'.

In terms of the lineup, it doesn't feature all of the original members. However, I think that this release captured most of what they used to sound like. The guitar, vocals, and drums were all the components of the old Obituary. Featured here was John Tardy on vocals, Trevor Peres on guitars, Ralph Santolla on guitars, Frank Watkins on bass and Donald Tardy on drums. I thought that overall the production was done well. Everything seemed to catch my attention from this aspect.

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
12/11/2008 18:23