Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Obituary - World Demise (1994)

It is virtually impossible to underline importance of Obituary in terms of them being my gateway into death metal some thirty plus years ago. If your first taste of a death metal vocalist is John Tardy on Slowly We Rot, a man who rarely used actual words to express his vocals then you were pretty much guaranteed to be either repulsed and run straight back to your Iron Maiden LP’s or be so drawn in that there was soon no way back from the path you had been dragged down. As the years have rolled by, watching other stalwarts of the early nineties’ scene fade away, I would argue that although they do not have a flawless discography, Obituary are still consistent performers of death metal who have a lot more in their arsenal other than those glorious first two records.

Hence my nomination of World Demise for the October feature release. I feel like the internet has talked endlessly about the first two Obituary albums and much of the discography is an almost presumed failure by comparison. Although I accept that World Demise does not match those classic outputs from 1989 and 1990, it still possesses enough identity to standout in the grander scheme of things. This was a slower paced Obituary, shed of its more scathing skin of old with a more socio-political bluntness being deployed instead. When Tardy sneers that he really does not care on the opening track, you believe him, 100%. Backed by his brother’s solid drumming and the superb bass of the late Frank Watkins, John could not ask for a better set of backup weapons to his unique and newly legible vocal attack.

Despite, the slower pace, the more focused lyrics and general stripped back nature of the record, it is still quintessentially Obituary. Those riffs from Peres and West are as familiar as ever and if you allow yourself to get lost in them, you could just as easily be listening to the debut album all over again. World Demise ultimately lacks any truly standout moments though. Despite its solid musicianship and altered direction that they carry off well enough, it does tend to plod in places. The loss of that dense atmosphere left a few cracks uncovered and those snippets don’t land well when they try including them. The best example here being that shifting effect on Splattered which I think is one of the worst errors of judgement in the history of the band.

These quibbles are just that though, nothing earth shattering when taken in the context of the whole record which is a solid slab of death metal. Give me World Demise over Tales From The Thousand Lakes or Blasphemy Made Flesh from the same year.