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

Despite them being one of the most recognisable names in death metal, I have never really listened to much of Obituary's output outside of their Slowly We Rot debut, so I can't claim to be any kind of authority on the band and so I can approach new album Dying of Everything with no prior expectations. It has a very crisp sound, so there is nowhere to hide if the chops aren't there, but luckily the band seem well up to it, with the drumming in particular benefitting from the clear production and the riffs cutting like a well-sharpened axe blade. 

Last year I spent a fair bit of time listening to early death metal releases as the genre transitioned from thrash and although Dying of Everything does exhibit some of those markers, it strikes me as being what death metal would be like if it had evolved from groove metal rather than thrash metal, with a more noticeable "bounce" to it's riffs than I would expect. I guess this is just a more modern approach, but I am not wholly comfortable with it, to be honest. My preference in death metal is for a dirty, old-school sound and this is quite clearly not that, but that said, it does still deliver some pretty good riffs and even if it sounds clean, it still delivers a respectable level of brutality, especially on the speedy title track and, in truth, after several listens over a few weeks now it is starting to grow on me. 

Overall Dying of Everything sounds like a band of consummate professionals who know what they are about and how to deliver it and although they are no longer tearing the ground up and felling all before them, they can still deliver some kick-ass metal, which after so long in the business must be admired and should not be quickly dismissed.