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Class 6(66)

Obituary: The end complete

30/11/12  ||  Sokaris

Introduction

The other day my wife came home with one of those double-sized packs of brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts. We’re saving back money right now and buying more in bulk and our favorite varities, chocolate cookie dough and vanilla milkshake, aren’t available in the larger boxes. Those of you from countries not currently experiencing an obesity epidemic are probably scratching your heads right now but bear with me, we’re talking about Obituary today. Recently I just so happened to enjoy my processed breakfast treat with a can of Lipton Brisk lemon iced tea. The mix of fake tea and fake pastry mixed together into a nutrition-free, dull brown mess as I chewed. Then something interesting happened. I was taken back, over a decade, to a time when such a meal sustained an angsty high schooler just discovering death metal, mostly by way of the Florida bands. Specifically Deicide, Morbid Angel and Obituary… confused reader, just hang on, I promise, we’re almost there.

Since I found the school’s prepared foods repulsive and the idea of wasting my precious lunch break in line with a bunch of people I usually practiced my disconnected scowling at didn’t appeal to me, I grew familiar with the vending machines and for nearly four damn years ate that same bland meal of Pop-Tarts and canned tea. Doing so let me shave a little bit of lunch money off the top and every week or so I’d have enough to snag an album from eBay, provided I got it cheap enough. One fateful day I managed to obtain two CDs simultaneously, my first death metal albums. One was Morbid Angel’s Domination and the other the subject here today, “The end complete” from Obituary.

I went headfirst into the death metal genre and came out loving it.

Songwriting

7. “The end complete”, Obituary’s third album, was an appropriate enough introduction to the genre. It’s almost entirely midpaced, laying thick the vicious groove that I initially found appealing about this style of music. There’s darkness present, though it’s not an overly oppressive affair either. Every riff is memorable, but it must be stated that there is a lack of variety that keeps this particular album out of the same legendary circle of as“Slowly we rot”:http://www.globaldomination.se/class666/obituary-slowly-we-rot and Cause of death Still though, a second-tier Obituary album is something to behold and treasure for death metal lovers.

Production

7. Recorded at Morrisound with Scott Burns, like so many classics of the time period. Though it does bear the trademark elements of the man’s work (heavy but clear, low end left slightly open for the kick, vocals big in the mix) the guitars get a little squashed in the end. Maybe a less scooped approach with more bass guitar separation would’ve done the trick, but I’m not the guy to ask about particulars when it comes to engineering an album. I just know that “Cause of death” had something in its production that this one lacks.

Guitars

8. The trademark crushing fuzz-tinged tone of the guitars is one of the most immediate elements of appeal on display here. Goddamn, that tone. Listen to anything off of the last Obituary; it seems they duct-taped all the knobs on their amp heads and rack equipment into place and just dusted out the old rehearsal space for their reunion on “Frozen in time” back in ’05. There’s a reason for that consistency. While we’re on the subject of the guitars, don’t expect a repeat of the fretboard acrobatics metal journeyman James Murphy provided on last time around. Unfortunately, Murphy was out (and fortunately he would form Disincarnate and release a hell of an album before leaving Florida) and the more expansive and technical leadwork went with him. Now, I’m not trying to lob insults at Allen West’s style of playing solos. Personally I don’t really think there’s a problem with whammy bar dependency if the songs call for something unhinged in that regard. Everything he plays fits great, I’d just like to hear something a little more technical to offset the atmospheric wailing he’s basically a master at.

Vocals

10. My favorite performance from one of my favorite death metal vocalists. 15-year-old me didn’t know what to think of the sounds erupting from John Tardy’s throat the first time I heard this album, but the older, handsomer me would probably use the phrase “Tasmanian devil vomit howl” to describe his signature style to one not familiar with Obituary. This is a good balance between his early incoherence and his eventual development of control and the slight removal of that crucial nastiness. The man still sounds great and he sounded great pretty much from the beginning but to me this strikes the balance in his evolution.

Bass

5. Frank Watkins (now in Gorgoroth, going by Bøddel, Norwegian for “exeuctioner”… extra death metal cred points if you get why) doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot that I can discern. As I mentioned the guitars are a bit squashed down so the bass is definitely sacrificed as well, though still somewhat present. Bass loses points for not doing much on its own but gains them back for contributing to that godlike tone.

Drums

7. Donald Tardy isn’t a flashy guy, he’s got more in common with someone like Paul Mazurkiewicz than Pete Sandoval or Steve Asheim. Meat and potatoes is Obituary’s bread and butter so Tardy is definitely worth his salt.
*Note to self: stop writing reviews while eating*

Lyrics

8. Well, shit I’ve had this things for 12 years and I’ve never looked up the lyrics. Let’s take a look. Huh, better than I would’ve expected. Dark and violent but in an atmospheric, hopeless sort of way, playing on the morbid fears and curiosities that make up an intrinsic part of human nature.

Cover art

9. Speaking of dark atmosphere, Andreas Marschall puts paint to canvas and really just captures a desolate, foreboding emptiness that fits old school death metal. It’s simplistic and it might not have imagery quite as iconic as a typical Marschall work (you’ve seen his stuff on multiple Kreator, Blind Guardian, Running Wild and Immolation releases) but dark and simple fits Obituary damn well.

Logo

10. Although I miss the dripping blood, the hideous bat-creature that now forms that gnarly-looking ‘T’ makes up for it. The thing just looks painful, it’s got a great shape and its somehow still readable. Obituary sells tons of t-shirts for a reason.

Booklet

6. I’ve got the reissue (fortunately not the hideous “Two from the Vault” edition that comes with “World demise”… great value, garbage design) and aside from a couple cool band shots, you get too many stylized images of trees and way, way, way, Trey-Azagthoth-of-Morbid-Angel-way too many entries on the “thanks list”. No lyrics, though, which I have to deduct a point or two for.

Overall and ending rant

So nostalgia isn’t always a bad thing. One can take stock of what they’ve learned. A human can survive on a lunch of Pop Tarts and this death metal thing was definitely worth investigating. Obituary may not have ever lived up to their first pair of albums but they’ve been a consistent and an important act ever since, their disappearance notwithstanding. “The end complete” survives the ravages of time and still serves as a stellar example of the great things those who live and breathe death metal can accomplish with a few primitive elements.

8

  • Information
  • Released: 1992
  • Label: Roadrunner Records
  • Website: www.obituary.cc
  • Band
  • John Tardy: vocals
  • Trevor Peres: guitars
  • Allen West: guitars
  • Frank Watkins: bass
  • Donald Tardy: drums
  • Tracklist
  • 01. I’m in pain
  • 02. Back to one
  • 03. Dead silence
  • 04. In the end of life
  • 05. Sickness
  • 06. Corrosive
  • 07. Killing time
  • 08. The end complete
  • 09. Rotting Ways

Class 6(66) -reviews

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