Obituary’s ‘Sentence Day’ Delivers Punishing Groove and High-Flying Solos
Taking the riffing ethos of Celtic Frost and combining it with their own sense of manic-paced groove and over the top but charming death growls, Obituary have stood among death metal's elite for nearly 30 years. They're set to add another notch to their legacy on March 17 when their eponymous 10th studio album will see a release through Relapse. Get a taste of what's to come with the crushing new track "Sentence Day" above.
Opening with a spotlight guitar lick drenched in the band's floor-hugging tone, it isn't long before John Tardy's demented wail comes in, set to a thrashing groove. "Sentence Day" takes a turn early in the song, surging with energy propelled by a wild solo before finding the chorus. The arrangement here is among the band's most adventurous, veering off in all directions with barrages of twin melodies and even more theatrical soloing.
While Obituary check all the boxes fans have come to expect from their patented sound, "Sentence Day" offers up something new with the soloing, which we can't underscore enough. As the frets fly, so do images in the video, showing different shots of the group onstage throughout 2016.
“We could not be any more excited about this new album,” said Obituary in a joint statement. “We had a blast writing and recording it and having Ken [Andrews, guitar] and Terry [Butler, bass] as part of the writing process was a very cool experience for all of us. We really took our time with the writing process of these new songs, recording riffs and ideas as we went along and recording them as rough mixes then listening back and making necessary changes to help mold them into the songs that we are extremely proud of.”
Pre-orders for Obituary can be placed at the Relapse webstore. Look for Obituary on tour with Kreator, Midnight and Horrendous starting March 17 and see the full list of stops at our 2017 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours.
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