Obituary – Darkest Day
Obituary’s Slowly We Rot and Cause Of Death are considered genre-defining, classic death metal albums. To my ears though, aside from the vocals and “shocking” concepts, nothing about the band ever really struck me as overly brutal, let alone impressive. The basic riffs, sludgy playing, and overall repetitive ideas they champion make them something more akin to down tuned punk than anything else.
Whatever… genre tags don’t make music good or bad. If you like Obituary, I’m sure Darkest Day will satisfy your desire for yet another serving of the sound of decomposing organic matter dripping down a cement wall. For myself, I just don’t see the relevance in 2009 of thirteen simplistic, plodding, and downright bizarre tunes.
On their Myspace page, Obituary refer to themselves as “the heaviest band in the world”. Such a statement gives me the impression these guys were considered brutal and edgy in ’89 and have been riding that wave ever since, completely comfortable in and oblivious to their non-evolution. Every band that started at the same time as them has in one way or another adapted to survive, Cannibal Corpse being the most relevant example.
Either way, it seems like there are legions of longtime fans that will support Obituary no matter what they do. It’s just their ability to attract new, younger ones that I doubt.
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3 Comments
August 8th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Thank you so much for keeping your reviews short and to the point Eric. All of the shitty and immature analogies used to review an album these days just make it long and unreadable, and I almost always skip to the last paragraph. You give out all the facts I want in clear and concise details that actually make me want to read the review. Thanks again.
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Eric Burnet replied:
August 10th, 2011 at 9:20 am
Hey thanks for the comment Scott. I feel the same way about long reviews. Too many writers these days get self-indulgent. It’s likely because there isn’t any money in reviewing music anymore, so people do it out of love. Labors of love are often imbued with loads of passion, and with passion comes over-expression and self-indulgence. Hell, at we still have music reviews!
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Scott replied:
August 10th, 2011 at 10:52 am
I hear you Eric, music reviews, especially on this site, help me to find new music, which is why I love them. My parents subscribed me to Rolling Stone (for reasons unknown to me) and all of their reviews are, quite frankly, horrendous, and I’ve come to appreciate unpaid music reviews more. I do wish there was a little more unbiased reviewing on this site but I know that’s almost impossible to ask for. Plus overall it’s much better than most other music sites for the vast catalog of reviews, news and show reviews accrued by the staff. Unfortunately it’s really difficult to apply to be a writer, but I’ll keep trying.
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