Cause Of Death by Obituary
February 21, 2007 by Jo Minor
Released just a couple of years after their debut Slowly We Rot, one of Florida’s best and pioneering Death Metal band Obituary came out with their second studio offering Cause Of Death in 1990.
As with Slowly We Rot, Roadrunner Records re-released Cause Of Death in 1997, and this version of the album contains 3 demo versions of Infected, Memories Remain and Chopped In Half.
Boasting yet another cult album artwork by artist Michael R. Whelan, Cause Of Death is a brooding and dangerous listen from start to end. When it finally hit the stores in 1990, Cause Of Death was already one of the most anticipated releases in Death Metal history. After all, with a debut like Slowly We Rot, fans have already set their standards way up high for the band’s second studio outing. Cause Of Death also signaled the a new lineup for the band: original guitarist Allen West left the band, along with bass player Daniel Tucker. Joining them, however, was metal guitar maniac James Murphy (just on his way out of Death) and top bass guy Frank Watkins.
The pair joined the 3 remaining members from the Slowly We Rot recordings: Trevor Peres, Donald Tardy and brother John “The Voice Of Terror” Tardy.
Cause Of Death was recorded and mixed at the famous Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida and was jointly produced by the band and Scott Burns.
Overall, this album is slightly better than their debut - it somehow sounds like the band finally found their sound and direction which was not yet firmly planted during the recording of Slowly We Rot.
Among the 9 original tracks in Cause Of Death, there is a cover of Circle Of The Tyrants by Celtic Frost - who were one of the band’s strongest influences throughout the years. Obituary’s version sounds rather dark and raw; but personally the cover version recorded by Swedish Progressive Metallers Opeth in their My Arms, Your Hearse album is undeniably better.
Some of the standout tracks in this album are Body Bag, Chopped In Half and the title track itself - which is arguably the best song in the record.
To sum Cause Of Death up in mere words would be a foolish task, but if there are any wise words spoken for this album then drummer Donald Tardy has already said them when he said “The great thing about Obituary is that we’re heavier than a bag of donkey’s balls.”
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