Obituary ‎"Darkest Day" CD

Ah, Obituary. When I think of Obituary’s music I think of dirty swamp water and unmarked graves. A trunk full of body parts, beer bottles and a shovel.
Darkest Days is a true return to form for the Floridian death-dealers Obituary. More pummeling than Xecutioners Return this album manages to touch on the best parts of their previous efforts while adding a youthful urgency that’s palpable. There’s imagery to this album and an unmistakable feeling that hasn’t been present in awhile. Obituary has taken certain flavors and textures from past work and strewn them within new material and it works quite well. Even though the non-Euclidian guitar work of Cause Of Death isn’t as prevalent it’s still there, lurking at the threshold. While the organic oppressiveness of The End Complete abounds here the dry semi-industrial feel of World Demise looms in the background. The base of this sonic stew is Slowly We Rot, not in sound but in urgency. Obituary hasn’t sounded this dynamic in quite awhile. There’s an unmistakable feeling with this one. It’s oppressive and pummeling, vicious and viscous. The whole album is full of groove and swamp-water. Musically the guitar work is what stands out the most. The guitar tone is thick with menace and reminds you of final transmissions and lost civilizations and solos are at once razor sharp and skitter like deathwatch beetles crawling across moldy bones. Peres and Santolla complement each other perfectly and personally the album sounds more coherent than it did with James Murphy and more dynamic than Allen West’s albums. Not to take anything away from Murphy or West but Santolla just fits.
Vocally not much has changed, it’s Obituary for Cthulhu’s sake, but at times it feels like John is about to come unhinged; particularly on Outside My Head (right at the 3:00 minute mark, especially). Throughout the album his growls and screams charge the atmosphere with menace and remind you just who in the fuck you are dealing with. Frank Watkins and Donald Tardy add muscle to the monster and almost outshine the guitar work with their low-end assault.
The feel of the entire album is hot, humid, heavy and fierce. The oppressive air of Your Darkest Day pulses and slams like a graveborn creature roaming the halls of a darkened hospital while Outside My Head’s tortured screams remind you that the hospital isn’t abandoned. Fields Of Pain grinds bones and bends reality at the edges while conjuring dark things that gibber and dance. Truth Be Told just fucking crushes. There is no filler on this album and every track is pure aggression.
All said and done this is the best Obituary album since Cause Of Death and a definite Death Metal Album Of The Year contender for me. It could very well be my AOTY. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to make a trip to the swamp to unload my trunk.

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