Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Obituary - Dying of Everything (2023)

Album number eleven from Obituary comes a whole thirty-five years after their inception as the band we know today and actually some thirty-nine years after they originally formed as Executioner (later becoming Xecutioner).  When I sit back and take stock of Dying of Everything it is good to see that although it most certainly is not Cause of Death or even Slowly We Rot it does continue the consistent and still rich vein of death metal output that the band have managed to muster since they dropped Inked in Blood back in 2014.

Although a lot of the initial underground feel to Obituary dissipated decades ago, this is still quintessentially an Obituary record.  Those abrasively charged riffs, John's spewing vocals and Donald's solid drum work alongside the drawn out pace and bouncy rhythms.  I cannot think of many death metal bands from the late 80s and early 90s who can still produce a sound that they have owned for thirty years and proudly wear it like a medal of honour.  In a world were I constantly find myself drawn to more blackened elements in my death metal, Obituary are simply the same sounding band I grew up with - minus some of the intensity they enjoyed in their heyday - and who still supplied me with my gateway into death metal back in my teens.

Dying of Everything starts off very strong.  For the first five tracks it is consistent if not basic (no frills here folks) death metal.  This consistency breeds an air of accessibility and there are elements of melodicism that creep into leads and riff patterns alike.  The gunfire samples that are used on War are a little bit distracting (if not predictable) and the title track itself seems to run away with itself pace-wise a bit but is still a raging behemoth of a track.  The second half of the album is a marked deterioration however.  My Will to Live sounds a little to close to The Wrong Time for my liking and By the Dawn sounds like a clumsy return to the Slowly We Rot days.  The leads sound tired and uninspired overall throughout the record and in all honesty would have been better off left out altogether for me.

Only Torn Apart stands out from the rest of the pack in terms of the latter half of the record.  This track is a real galloping dm track that fully engages the early promise of the album again.  Sadly, my overall experience of Dying of Everything remains less positive than on previous outings.  I don't hate it by any means, indeed the first half is great but as an album it does lack completeness and indeed he ideas seem to run out quite quickly here.  After nearly four decades of existence, this is hardly unforgivable despite the overall disappointment I feel from the record.  I still rate Obituary highly and hope they can find the energy to put out at least a couple more standout records before they call time on things.  Dying of Everything isn't one of those standout records though.