Obituary - 'Left To Die' EP

Death-thrash legends Obituary serve up two new cuts, a re-recording of one of their classics, a Celtic Frost cover and a video on this hit-and-run EP.

Respected death metallers Obituary were one of the hot stories of 2007 with their beacon-calling album, Xecutioner’s Return.

With this success, one can only assume Obituary aren’t about to rest too long on their laurels in getting a new LP tracked and stacked. In the meantime, Obituary slings out a tidy little EP package with Left to Die.

Slowly We Rot was Obituary’s formal introduction to the metal masses in 1989 and the death metal icons ran from 2007 into this year practically in celebration of Xecutioner’s Return. Assumedly to commemorate the band’s upcoming 20th anniversary, Obituary builds a pair of new tunes and pounds out a brisk cover of Celtic Frost’s “Dethroned Emperor” with a redo of their own “Slowly We Rot” on Left to Die.

Both of the new songs “Forces Realign” and “Left to Die” honor Obituary’s tradition of merged tempos instead of simply bulldozing straight-laced velocity into bleeding ear canals. When Obituary wants to mosh, they mosh; when they want to build slower-timed rhythms and hammering riffs en route to explosive bursts of thrash, they work meticulously towards them, just as “Forces Realign” and the title track do. Though “Left to Die” never really gallops into the sunset as Obituary frequently does, the steady throb of the primary riff is massive enough.

Obligatory for all Obit fans…