Review by Daniel for Obituary - Slowly We Rot (1989)

Florida death metal legends Obituary have been a huge part of my life since the very early 1990’s. I first discovered them while listening to a late-night underground metal radio program shortly after the release of their 1989 debut album “Slowly We Rot” & immediately became infatuated with the vocals of the iconic John Tardy who has been my favourite death metal front man ever since. It was the title track from the album that would be my initial taste & my death metal band Neuropath would cover that song in a live environment for several years during the mid-90’s. 1990’s “Cause of Death” sophomore album would absolutely blow my socks off & would be followed up by the very strong “The End Complete” album in 1992, both of which kinda relegated “Slowly We Rot” to the bench. I feel that I’ve often overlooked it in the several decades since but I still remember my first impressions & how often I would scrank Obituary’s debut album back in the day so it’s about time I put my money where my mouth is by formalizing a firm position on its merits.

Obituary had been around for a good half decade by the time “Slowly We Rot” was recorded but not always under the same moniker. They began life as Executioner back in 1984, a thrash metal band whose “Metal Up Your Ass” 7” single floated by without much fanfare. They’d adjust their name to Xecutioner in 1986 due to potential legal issues with another band of the same title & released their 1986 & 1987 demo tapes under that name. These cassettes would clearly show that the boys had transitioned over to a death metal sound with the name change & the 1987 tape would very clearly showcase the classic Obituary sound, even if it was nothing more than a cheap rehearsal recording. Xecutioner would sign with Dutch label Roadracer Records for their debut album & would record it with a young producer by the name of Scott Burns at the now legendary Morrisound Studios in their home town of Florida. Burns was fresh out of making his first genuine production statement with Sepultura & their classic third album “Beneath The Remains” so it was great timing for Obituary who would change their name one last time just prior to the release of the album.

“Slowly We Rot” sounds amazingly tight & heavy for a first up effort. The rhythm guitar tone of Trevor Peres (Meathook Seed) & Allen West (Massacre/Six Feet Under) is thick & deathly, everything you could want from an old-school death metal record really. This is further enhanced by a really tight & well thought-out contribution from the rhythm section of future Nocturnus bassist Daniel Tucker & Meathook Seed drummer Donald Tardy. While West’s lead guitar work is certainly not up to the standard of James Murphy who would bring a new dimension to the band for their follow-up record, he hasn’t completely given up to pure whammy-bar worship just yet so his performance was effective enough. The real hero here though is clearly front man John Tardy who contributes a genuinely inhuman & scary sound that no man alive has yet been able to match. He’s simply untouchable & Obituary wouldn’t be the band they are without him. He & (to a lesser extent) Peres are the clear masterminds behind this legend of the Florida death metal scene.

Obituary’s early sound was comprised of a few different elements from an instrumental point of view. Firstly, there’s a clear Slayer influence in the faster material which is often backed by fairly punky, energetic & up-tempo beats. I find this material to be the least interesting. Then we have a mid-paced Celtic Frost influence that keeps things very simple yet executes with crushing efficiency. And finally you’ll find smatterings of genuine doom metal that are the clear highlights of the album in my opinion. It would seem that the band felt very similarly because they’d wind the tempo down far more regularly on “Cause of Death” & would reap the rewards for doing so too. The other thing they’d improve on with that album can be found in the better defined structure in their song-writing. On “Slowly We Rot” we see them pasting together some fairly disparate ideas in a haphazard fashion at times, often finishing songs suddenly & well before they’ve fully explored their potential.

While the tracklisting is very consistent with no week tracks included amongst the thirteen songs on offer, “Slowly We Rot” definitely offers a little variation in quality. If I’m being honest I’d suggest that the infamous title track is actually the one that appeals to me the least these days along with “Gates of Hell” & Words of Evil”. The real classics here are “Godly Beings”, “Suffocation”, “Bloodsoaked” & my personal favourite “Intoxicated” all of which demonstrate the potential in the doomier side of Obituary's toolkit. It’s a really solid late 80’s death metal record in its own right but I do still think that it looks & feels a little like a entrée to the “Cause of Death” main course. That may have caused me to unfairly overlook it over the years but I’ve never forgotten its importance or the impact it had on me as a youngster. “Slowly We Rot” should be essential listening for fans of bands like Autopsy, Jungle Rot & Asphyx.