Obituary is a band that has become synonymous with death metal, and yet they are one of those bands that have an incomparable and unique sound. The band's debut album, 'Slowly We Rot' (1989) was an instant classic, but in my humble opinion, the album that turned them into legends was this album. 'Cause of Death'. While their contemporaries Deicide and Morbid Angel were focusing on the blasphemous and atmosphere of their music (in two completely different ways) and with Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation concentrating on the hammering brutality of their interpretation of death metal, Obituary chose to follow a different path. In 1990, Obituary managed to create an album that was far more atmospheric than what Morbid Angel had released up till that point, and they also were able to give birth to a sound that was far more crushing and... Inhuman than that of Cannibal Corpse.
This album is very similar to their previous effort, 'Slowly We Rot' but at the same time it is a completely different entity. While 'SWR' was a somewhat juvenile album, it was still undeniably fun and helped push the boundaries for death metal. The songs on it would go from "squishy" fast sections to slow and sludgy doom sections. Here, Obituary cleaned up the production and the signature sound of their debut album was lost, which wasn't really a bad thing, and I will explain that later in this review. Also, Obituary developed the doom influenced side of their music more, but this time balanced the fast and slow parts well, while at the same time retaining the spontaneity of their debut. Lastly, the vocals of John Tardy are deeper, much deeper in fact, and even though they don't sound as "sick" as before, they certainly do sound better.
The focus on the general atmosphere gives 'Cause of Death' its signature sound. The general theme that surrounds the album is that of decay and the process of dying, and I like to compare listening to this album to walking in a graveyard in the middle of the night. The songs don't conform to any predefined structure and wander around aimlessly until a guitar solo pops up out of nowhere to lure the unsuspecting listener into the music, and undeterred by the ghastly vocals of the immortal John Tardy, you sink further into the album's cold embrace. It is unbelievable that despite the fact that 'Cause of Death' is such an ugly and demented album from the inside, the clean production and James Murphy's godly shredding manage to make this album so accessible.
Someone once told me that without the riffs, death metal would just be some dude growling. While I would be perfectly happy just listening to John Tardy spill his own brains out while "singing" the lyrics, the riffs here are truly magnificent. As I said before, there is an atmosphere of decay here, and that is in no small part due to Trevor Peres' riffs. Another wise human once told me that you could identify if Obituary was playing just by the sound of the riffs, and it is 100% true. The riffs are imaginative and lead the songs over and into strange and gloomy caverns, the kind where you could spend your entire life searching for any hint of light but without any success. The drummer, Donald Tardy is always happy to oblige, showing off his versatility and agile drumming ability by throwing in intelligent fills where necessary and showing great restraint in the fast sections by not going too fast. The restraint he displays during the faster sections makes this album even better because the drums don't distract the listener from the thing that matters - the atmosphere.
Of course, everything what I have written about the album so far doesn't really matter because brilliance cannot be accurately described in words. The two stand out songs are 'Find the Arise' and 'Circle of the Tyrants' but they are certainly not the best songs. Why? Because every song here is a classic. From the slow 'Body Bag' to the imaginative 'Turned Inside out', every song here is a tribute to the one real thing in this world. Death.
Rating: 10 (out of 10)Reviewed by MegaHassan
02/08/2009 16:15
Looking to hear some exploding, mind boggling, ear piercing, highly original an unable to top kind of death metal? Well 'Cause of Death' was created and reflects that kind of vibe within itself. It is so traumatizing especially the vocals by John Tardy, talk about the sound of death!!! Well, great lineup especially who's hitting the lead guitar work but nonetheless the immortal James Murphy. Clocking in some brutal, distorted rhythm work with chords galore and speeds slow, but daunting, Trevor Peres is in charge. Donald Tardy hits behind the set with precision and mortification.
An album ahead of it's time, a time when the Floridian death metal scene was reaching its highest... Obituary makes a mark in the scene so highly and with utmost originality as well as a sort of "best of" compilation of songs that can only be replicated by the band. While to me it does sound like a compilation album, but really is a full length brutal release that features guitar chords chunky and thick with an atmospheric death rattle to it. James Murphy raids the lead department and yet again sparks with utter intensity featuring leads that are fully compliant on the fretboard the same way he hit 'Spiritual Healing' by Death (also released in 1990).
Musicianship at it's highest, with John Tardy spewing forth death, gore, etc. type of lyrics, rhythms that are marked well with that intensity, leads fitting the atmosphere perfectly, and a production perfected by Scott Burns. He seemed to top death metal recorders in the production department at the time where these original sounding death metal bands were producing sounds that are so captivating and skull wrenching. The overall aura on here was not only the vocals, rhythms, leads and drums, but the whole atmosphere featuring deathly sounding music ever put forth onto the scene.
Yes, they did have many competitors playing death metal such as bands like Death, Pestilence, Cannibal Corpse, et al and yet at that time they seemed to be amongst the great musicians playing this kind of metal. However, lyrical concepts are what they are on here and it suits the music. That thick, grinding, choppy and tremolo picked rhythms were well thought out and James Murphy ripping out that talent that he bestowed on lead guitar. Such a great musician that has succumbed the possibly life threatening brain cancer the same way that Chuck Schuldiner did. Murphy seems to be in pretty bad shape nowadays and hopefully the Sweet Relief Foundation find funds to save him.
Get the remastered edition of 'Cause of Death', it features bonus demo tracks and augmented, atmospheric and damn bloody good cast of musicians with one of the top producer at the time. The music, the band, the era and the augmented scene of deathly dying of metal depicted. This album to me remains amongst the top albums in the genre of death metal ever recorded. It is my view at least, having been into death metal for over 23 years, trust me I know as picky as I am with albums this one is top notch. If you choose to own it, have it ASAP because of its utter brain wrenching death metal ever heard. Obituary's finest here on this recording.
Rating: 10 (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Death8699
01/29/2013 12:56
