Obituary – Ten Thousand Ways To Die

It is a good sense of timing to say the least when I got the chance to review the latest Obituary release Ten Thousand Ways To Die a few days after seeing them crush all those who saw them play at the Academy 2 in Manchester a few days earlier. Available via Relapse Records, it is made up of 2 brand new studio tracks and eleven live tracks taken from different venues from their 2015 US Inked In Blood tour.

Kicking off with the two new studio tracks, they provide a good taster for a planned studio album early next year. ‘Loathe’ slams in with an abrasive intro riff as the rest of the band grind along with it. The first guttural vocal from John Tardy leads the number into a crawling, suffocating six minutes of doom. ‘Ten Thousand Ways To Die’ has surprisingly deft touches of melody amongst the chest beating, blackened heart riffs. Once again, John’s vocals are in paint stripping mode.

The live set begins with the aptly titled ‘Redneck Stomp’, a pounding instrumental that precedes the exhilarating, short, sharp foot to the floor death metal charge of ‘Centuries Of Lies’, the first of two back to back numbers from last studio album Inked In Blood. The superhuman drum assault from Donald Tardy drives it towards the unrelenting barrage of riffs in ‘Visions In My Head’. The dynamics are similar to Metallica’s ‘One’ but are much heavier. The song ends with raging guitar solos. Other highlights are the twisting and turning guitar riffs that provide no let up in the intensity of ‘Intoxicated’, the first of four numbers from their classic 1989 debut Slowly We Rot.

   ‘Bloodsoaked’ is almost like a down tuned Judas Priest in the intro riffs that see it hurtle along on uptempo doom with yet more over the top guitar histrionics. The chopping and churning riffs turn ‘Dying’ into a grinding facemelter, punctuated by sharp bursts of speed metal. ‘Til Death’ could be the Hellish soundtrack to armageddon as it suffocates with a heavy sombre mood. The pairing of ‘Chopped In Half’ and ‘Turned Inside Out’ from Cause Of Death feature a gleefully macabre lead vocal as the band hammer out a raucous backing as the ridiculously tight time changes midway lead into the snarling second half.

There can be only one song to close an Obituary gig and that is ‘Slowly We Rot’, five minutes of a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It picks you up and lets you fall on a ride of evil vibes until it has finished with you. Howling guitars, furious kick drums are challenged by the  most unhinged vocal of the set.

Album track listing :-

Loathe.

Ten Thousand Ways To Die.

Redneck Stomp.

Centuries Of Lies.

Visions In My Head.

Intoxicated.

Bloodsoaked.

Dying.

Find The Arise.

Til Death.

Don’t Care.

Chopped In Half/Turned Inside Out.

Slowly We Rot.

Obituary band line up :-

John Tardy – Vocals.

Trevor Perez -Guitar.

Kenny Andrews – Guitar.

Donald Tardy – Drums.

Terry Butler – Bass guitar.