Obituary maybe my second favorite extreme death metal band! Only the even more legendary Death would come ahead. Obituary had to be highly influnced by Slayer mainly due to the guitar solos. Vocalist John Tardy sounds a bit like Chuck Schuldner(RIP) of Death. After all the two bands originated around the same time at the same place! This is one of the most brutal bands to be signed on to the great Roaadrunner Records second most brutal on that label. The most brutal band on that label is probably Suffocation(another awesome band). This is Obituary's debut and their best album as well. I'm glad they reunited for a new album in 2005! The vocals are great! The guitars are killer! The drums sound excellent! The bass is audible! This album is a death metal classic all the way.
WARNING: If you think Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park are heavy than avoid this album at all costs! And if you're one of those people than you suck!

After over 15 years since I last heard their music, I decided to pick up this CD. It is the ultimate in true death metal. I don't even listen to this type of music any more, but I listen to this CD. For anyone new to the genre; don't start here... you will be dissapointed in anything else you listen to in the genre from here on out.

Obituary were on of the pioneers of the Florida death metal wave. And even though they were one of the best bands to come out of that movement, Obituary never quite achieved the success of their peers (Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Deicide), because they were always kind of overshadowed by Metallica and Slayer. Granted, Obituary's guitarists, James Murphy and Trevor Peres, do unleash a furious barrage of blistering riffs that is as fast and precise as Eighties' Metallica (and sometimes, as in "Godly Beings," even Slayer); but Obituary aren't just another thrash knock-off. "Slowly We Rot" is catchier and usually pounds harder than a typical Metallica or Slayer song. Plus, John Tardy's growls and belching noises are more reminiscent of Max Cavalera than James Hatfield or Tom Araya. And finally, Murphy and Peres do toss in some guitar solos, here ("Suffocation" and "Like The Dead" both have two wailing solos), but they are slower and a bit more technical than Metallica's and Slayer's solos. "Slowly We Rot" sounds great all the way through, but it's most awesome when it's super speedy (which is about 95% of the time). And even when it slows down, like for the beginning of track three, it usually speeds up a lot and the rest of the song flies by. The door opening song, "Internal Bleeding," has a creepy intro, but (about half a minute later) it rockets into a full-fledged, breakneck, bullying guitar assault. Next, tracks six and seven, "Gates To Hell" and "Words Of Evil," are explosive salvos of scorching guitars and thumping double bass drums, and "Intoxicated" is a pounding rhythm with insanely fast riffing, barked vocals, and one of the album's longest guitar solos. The rest of the world may have (more-or-less) forgotten about Obituary and "Slowly We Rot," but that doesn't mean you have to. If you like any one of the Floridian death metal bands or Eighties' thrash bands, or if you just enjoy metal that sounds great through and through, definitely pick this up.

When this came out in 1989 Obituary had quite a few demos under their sleeves. They were releasing demos under the name Xecutioner as far back as 1986. There was also something else Obituary had going for them -no one else sounded like them. As far as early Death Metal goes, and I have tons of demo tapes from this period, this album exemplifies everything a good band should have.

Shortly before releasing the great "Slowly we Rot" Xecutioner changed their name to Obituary, I suppose because they didn't want to get confused with the Thrash band (a good one at that) from Boston with the same name.

The guitar duo of Peres and West go from the slugdy slow heavy as all hell riffs to the lighting fast (in comparison to the verses) wild solos. The drumming ala Don Tardy is also very simple and goes from a mid-tempo to a slow thrashing of the high-hats, to hitting the crash cymbals to the breaking point. All of this is connected by the vocalist John Tardy's undeciferable signing and gutteral noises that make the music all that much more threatening sounding. I really hate most of the cliche Death Metal "cookie monster" vocals (as best exampled by Cannibal Corpse) but Tardy I could always admire. He just did it so well. It was the sound of decay coming forth from his throat.

The lesson of Obituary is a very good one. They could play fast if they wanted to but...They proved that to play really heavy music it was better if you played really slowly in order to emphasize the heaviness of it. Just like Black Sabbath had done a generation earlier, Obituary made into a science. They took the wild solos from mid 80s Slayer, the ferocity of S.F.'s Possessed, and the lessons from Black Sabbath, as well as their own stylings to create a totally original sound.

I'd say Death Metal started (and maybe ended) with Obituary, but most people ceed the title of king of Death Metal to Death mainman Chuck Schuldiner. But if he wasn't around in '89, Obituary would've been the undisputed kings. Take it from me, when this came there was nothing like it. The remastering is pretty good too. A must own.

I've bought this album 10 years ago...wow, I'm an old man now.
But still I can't stop the CD once I start to play, because I don't know when to stop.
All the songs can be entitled as masterpieces, true heaviness and insanity ties my body and soul like a chain
and won't let go even after the play stops by itself. And this has been the same for 10 years.
I sincerely recommend this one and their live album for those about to rock until the death greets their hearts...