The name Obituary is instantly recognisable to most serious
Metal fans, and love ‘em or hate ‘em, they were one of the bands which helped
define death metal. Taking Celtic Frost style metal to its extremes, Obituary
blasted the metal world in 1989 with the release of their debut “Slowly We
Rot”. Never before had such gut wrenching audio violence been recorded. Even in
a genre as extreme as Death Metal, “Slowly We Rot” was over the top. If
incredibly heavy rhythms and frenetic, deafening drumming weren’t enough, John
Tardy redefined the art of death metal vocals with one bloodcurdling growl.
Tardy’s guttural vocals seemed barely human, as he perfected the art of using
the voice as another instrument, growling his way through meaningless, but
brutal sounding lyrics.
Obituary remained at the forefront of the death metal wave
of the early 1990s, releasing “Cause Of Death” in 1990, which incredibly was
more extreme than the debut. Third album “The End Complete” saw Obituary slow
down, tighten up, and sell a quarter of a million copies, making “The End
Complete” the biggest selling death metal album of the time. The 1994 album
“World Demise” saw Obituary explore African percussion and lyrical themes of
industrialisation and pollution. The band’s final studio album “Back From The
Dead” was relatively poorly received, despite a return to the death and gore
lyrics. The band quit touring and playing live in 1997, and the release of a
live album and a greatest hits package indicated to most fans that Obituary had
reached the end of the line.
Cue 2004. Completely out of the blue, Obituary burst back
onto the scene in March, playing live again for the first time in six years.
Initial shows in the US were a success, so a low key European tour was planned.
It was also a resounding success. Obituary was back from the dead.
It seemed the band’s seven year absence had not harmed their
reputation at all. At the time Obituary called it quits, there was a lot of
speculation as to why the band had pulled the plug. Rumours had it that John
Tardy’s throat tearing vocals had wrecked his voice completely, while another
story said the band had gone off touring. Both proved to be incorrect.
“First, we never ‘split’ up!” said vocalist John Tardy from
Florida. “Second, the voice has never been a problem. We got to a point where I
just wasn't happy with the way things were going. Roadrunner (the band’s label)
and Blue Grape (the band’s merchandising company) were both doing things that I
didn't want to be a part of. We finished a tour and we just took a step back to
re-think the way things were going. We didn't plan on it being as long as it
was but that is just the way it worked out. It was always just a matter of time
before we got things going again. We are now back writing and playing again
because it just feels right and Obituary still has a lot we want to get done.”
Despite not playing together for a number of years, the
pieces which make up Obituary seemed slot back together with few problems. “It
was really really easy. The time just felt right and songs just started coming
out naturally”, said Tardy.
In the past the band had experimented a little with African
percussion, and also recorded “Bullituary”, a remixed song with Hip Hop lyrics.
However, it seems Obituary’s new material will be straight down the line death
metal. “(It’s) hard for me to say what the new material sounds like. I listen
to it all the time so it is hard for me to hear changes in our music. I would
say it sounds like classic Obituary - very heavy. (There’s) no African
percussion or rap yet...but we are still writing. Everyone in the band except
me has done some other projects but I don't see that influencing us in any
way,” said Tardy.
Indeed, the rest of the band has racked up an impressive
range of other projects during Obituary’s hiatus. Drummer Donald Tardy has
played drums for party rocker Andrew WK. Lead guitarist Allen West played with
death metal supergroup Six Feet Under, while rhythm guitarist Trevor Peres
resurrected the industrial metal project Meathook Seed. “Obituary's studio is
at my house, so other than always jamming with who ever is around I have not
done any other music. I did do a guest vocal spot with Necro (a hip hop artist
from Brooklyn). (It was) a little different but I had a good time doing it,”
said Tardy.
However, John Tardy is not one to immerse himself in the
death metal scene. “I am not the most up to date person... I try to isolate
myself a bit from the music as not to get influenced by anyone.”
While the band is definitely recording a new album, its
release is a little less certain. “We are working out our contract situation
and are not sure who will release the album. It will probably be with
Roadrunner. They do have the resources to help us but it will definitely be up
to us to get things done the way we want it.”
Despite not having any new material to promote, Obituary
toured Europe in October. “The tour went great and I was really surprised at
the amount of fan support we got. There were a lot of promoters that said we
should have a new record first...bla bla bla...We wanted to get over there and
make sure people understood that we were back together. We had a blast! After
the new record we will be doing a lot of touring to support it. We have never
been to New Zealand and would love to get over there and play. We will have to
wait and see.”
So where is Obituary headed in the future?
“Retirement sounds good!” joked Tardy. “But not yet. We really want to do a few
more albums. We still have a lot more musically we want to do. We should be in
the studio in January and hope for a release around May. We are currently
working on booking shows for next year and are really looking forward to it.
Thanks for the support. First published in the Ashburton Guardian 8 December 2004
|