Slowly We Rot, Obituary's debut album, is my single most favorite piece of Florida Death Metal. I never really thought much of their other records, this one just does it for me. John Tardy vomits forth his amazingly grotesque vocals and the band is solid, heavy and consistent. Morbid Angel may have been the most proficient, Deicide the most satanic, Cannibal Corpse the most gory, but Obituary was just the most enjoyable and riffy. No gimmicks, just songs, good ones. Slowly We Rot is a classic of humid, deep south, death-obssessed, dirthead, trailer-court Grand Guignol that always hits the spot.
Their first three albums are killer but this is definitely my favorite. Tardy's vox are fucking killer too.
ReplyDeleteNot from the same album, but if this doesn't get your blood going, well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aoD2cXM3Dc
This is great but I also will always Love Legion by Deicide as well.What Morbid Angel album do you endorse as the best if any?
ReplyDeleteI am partial to Morbid Angel's Covenant album.
ReplyDeleteSlowly We Rot (the track) and Death's "Regurgitated Guts" from Scream Bloody Gore still get me going. You can still hear Celtic Frost/Possessed influences but with that awesome, filthy death metal tone. All hail the true metal of death.
ReplyDeleteBTW - The track Slowly We Rot has one of the best intros ever.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. The Norwegian Black Metal band Tulus did a cover of it. Obituary totally had the CF guitar tone, kind of like Dr. Know. "Scream Bloody Gore" is probably my second favorite Florida dm album.
ReplyDeleteThe pinnacle of Floridan death to me has always been the mighty satanic bulldozer Altars of Madness. Has there ever been two songs that command instant headbanging more readily then Immortal Rites or Chapel of Ghouls?
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy this album but Obituary were always a bit lower down the ladder for me next to Morbid Angel, Monstrosity or Death. The last time I saw them they headlined over Napalm Death and they were hard pressed to match the power and immediacy ND brought to the stage.
Monstrosity? Really? Hmmm, maybe I need to give them another listen. I saw that Obituary/Napalm tour in SF. I got real stoned and fell asleep between bands and missed Napalm Death. Damn!
ReplyDeleteI think Monstrosity got a bit of the short end of the stick among all of those bands. They lack that one crucial classic album that really sticks out as their debut wasn't their strongest effort, and so I see them unfairly get tossed aside as just another generic old death metal fossil here and there. A damn shame really, I always thought their drummer Lee Harrison was the best one to come out of the whole Florida scene. That guy is all about playing with the song and complimenting it instead of drowning everything in blast beats.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine's band (who shall remain nameless) toured Europe with Monstrosity and told me an amazing story about one of those dudes trying to pick up on some girl at Auschwitz. My response "Well, if you can score some tail at the most depressing place on Earth you pretty much can anywhere."
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give this a shot, but I have to admit that I never really "got" Death Metal.
ReplyDeleteI missed that era by way of youth.
I wonder what sort of pick-up lines would work in a place like that
ReplyDelete"Blowing me macht frei"
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this amazing death metal release. I always found it humorous that the singer even admits to not actually singing real words on most of the album.
ReplyDeleteMonstrosity's "Imperial Doom" is an awesome album. The drumming is amazing in my opinion. Maybe I should post it my blog.
a classic indeed. one that was missing from my mp3 collection, so thanks yet again.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm back.
ReplyDeleteI listened.
It's good stuff.
I'm intrigued by the production. There are interesting little bits applied here and there (pitch drops on the vocals, synth pads, extra reverb) that I would not have expected.
This is a very appropriately recorded album.
Thanks.
Good Ear, Mr. Camden. If this piqued your interest in the Florida variety of DM may I recommend Death "Scream Bloody Gore" it's fantastic. Also (not Floridian) but Autopsy's "Mental Funeral" is just about as greasy and thick a DM album there is and incorporates alot of Sabbathy doom into the mix.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta love those "death scat" vocals!!!!God I love making up my own lyrics to this.
ReplyDeleteYou should post some diecide. do you have the self titled one?
ReplyDeletegreat! this was the first death metal album i ever heard. it was back in 1992 when i was 13.
ReplyDeleteThis is so awesome. You can hear the fucking ridiculous Florida humidity boiling up off the asphalt. Thaaanx.
ReplyDelete