UMUR "The End Complete" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Obituary. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in April 1992. It´s the successor to "Cause of Death" from 1990 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as lead guitarist Allen West returned to the fold after a one album absence, after James Murphy left to join UK death metal act Cancer, and soon after that formed his own band Disincarnate. "The End Complete" is Obituary´s most commercially successful release selling around 250.000 copies worldwide. Not many death metal releases have sold in those numbers.

Like the case also was on the two preceding albums, "The End Complete" was produced by Scott Burns and Obituary. The sound production is raw, organic, and brutal, which suits the rawness and brutality of the material perfectly. It´s a bit more dark and gritty compared to the more clear sounding production style on "Cause of Death (1990)", and while there´s absolutely nothing wrong with the sound quality of the predecessor, my ears prefer the more organic sound on "The End Complete".

Stylistically the material on "The End Complete" is crushingly heavy and and groove laden brutal death metal. Obituary have increased their focus on heavy grooves and "The End Complete" is ultimately a very rhythmic release. Drummer Donald Tardy deliver groove laden heavy beats and rhythm patterns throughout the album, perfectly complimenting the ultra brutal downtuned guitar riffs and heavy bass (and the many blistering screaming guitar solos). John Tardy performs his distinct sounding growling vocals with both great passion and conviction. I dare say it´s his strongest performance yet. While the horror/gore themed lyrics aren´t exactly great poetry, there are longer and more coherent lyric lines on this album, than the sparse lyrics on the first two albums. The effect is the same though and Tardy´s commanding growling still often work as an extra instrument rather than regular vocals. His pronunciation of the words and his phrasing have great impact on the ears that hear.

"The End Complete" is one long highlight and there´s not a single sub par track featured on the album. Tracks like "I'm in Pain", "Back to One", "Sickness" (the breakdown on that track is earth shattering brutal), and of course the brilliant title track are just examples of strong tracks, but I could mention any track of the album and call it a standout track. Upon conclusion "The End Complete" is Obituary at their peak. It´s through and through a high quality release and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.

Warthur Having hit their brutal stride on Cause of Death, Obituary took a "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" approach to The End Complete, offering up nine more morbid meditations on the lapse into oblivion and putrescence that awaits us all. At 36 minutes it certainly can't be accused of outlasting its welcome, and to be honest this was probably a smart move - otherwise the lack of significant musical development over Cause of Death might have become an issue. As it stands, to a certain extent The End Complete boils down to "Cause of Death, only with Allen West back in the guitar position", and on balance that's all it really needed to be.

Mjöllnir By this third album, I've slowly come to admit they were running low on ideas. I tried very hard to like it but I don't get anywhere near as excited as I did with the classic debut and sophomore albums. It's a shame that for many of the Florida bands it was a similar story. This time around it feels a little less intense overall despite having the usual Obituary elements all seemingly present and correct (those vomiting vocals as rough and hideous as they ever were). In fact, despite not having listened to this for a long while, I still recall several songs without having to think "how did that sound again?" which is a good sign.

But I have to admit the churning, Celtic Frost inspired riffs were just not hitting home like they did on Cause of Death. The tracks run into each other in a way the band had managed to avoid admirably earlier, and their sound effects parts between songs gimmick was largely done away with. Allen West is back on lead guitar which gives us a flavour of Slowly We Rot mixed in with the slower demonic heaviness of Cause of Death, but it still doesn't seem to be quite enough.

There's good moments here for sure but it seems less inspired, and ultimately would give way to two sub-par releases before they initially called it quits. The gold disc reissue includes two live cuts, which are just there really. The Andreas Marschall artwork is captivating though, so it looks nice on the shelf at least!