Obituary – Darkest Day

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After what seems like a very long wait following the Left To Die EP (August 2008) the eighth album from Florida’s death metal pioneers is a much more impressive effort than back-to-basics previous album Xcutioner’s Return (2007). The second album to feature Ralph Santolla on lead guitar delivers some truly stellar playing (intro solo on This Life, Fields of Pain) and some of the heaviest riffs you’ll hear all year, creating ominous, original death metal without relying on playing at full speed with relentless bass drumming for the duration of the record. The groove on Payback, amongst others, is fearsome, varying the disc nicely between faster tracks like See Me Now and the two-minute blitz of Violent Dreams (probably the only formulaic track on the record). John Tardy’s voice has barely changed over the last 20 years and is still as potent now as it was at the beginning, still genre-defining in its uniqueness. Obituary have been going from strength to strength since their reformation in 2005, each album has been better and more challenging than the last, and reports of devastating live shows seem to indicate there’s no sign of them abating any time soon. In fat their output is probably even better now than in the first half of their career.

Written by Andy Lye
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