Review of Obituary - "Inked In Blood"

MID-MAJOR MAYHEM

By: Geoff Teach

When I was thirteen years old, I bought an album that would forever change me. After having discovered the joys of Sepultura’s “Arise” cassette, I then popped in my other purchase from that red-letter trip to Sam Goody, Obituary’s “The End Complete” (1992, RC Records). I can recall just how taken aback I was by the slow-but-relentless, doomy rhythms of the Florida death metal legends, and I know since that day, I have always had a healthy respect for metal that doesn’t need to go a hundred miles an hour to make listeners bang their heads. Instead, Obituary have spent the better part of the past three decades destroying necks and backs around the world with its own deliberate, incredibly heavy vision of death metal.

Now, twenty-two years after blowing my mind as a young man, Obituary have returned in full force with a brand new album. Recently, the Tardy brothers and company released their tenth studio full-length, “Inked In Blood” (Relapse Records), and although the lineup of the band has changed many times over the years, nothing has changed about the band’s overall production or delivery. Still slathered with gobs of calculated, sustained guitar riffs, “Inked In Blood” also has a multitude of driving, mosh-inducing tracks, but ultimately, this album is classically Obituary. Tracks such as “Violent By Nature”, “Back On Top”, “Within a Dying Breed”, “Inked In Blood”, and “Deny You” all sound like they could have been recorded by the band in the early 90’s and truly represent their signature sound, but if you’re looking for more of the thrashy, propulsive tracks, be sure to listen to such ass-kickers as “Centuries Of Lies”, “Violence”, “Minds Of The World”, and “Paralyzed With Fear”. Honestly, though, no other track on the twelve-song effort (some versions include two bonus tracks to take the total to fourteen) compares to “Visions In My Head”, as it combines the best of both worlds by displaying characteristics of the essential, doomy Obituary, and the punishing, old-school death metal Obituary. These two forces come together to form the best track on the album, hands down.

“Inked In Blood” should appeal to all Obituary fans, both old and new, as it firmly delivers the sound that all of us have come to know and love, so go pick up a copy for yourself today!

Keep It Metal! \m/

To listen to “Visions In My Head” from “Inked In Blood”, just press play below!