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Obituary > The End Complete > Reviews > brocashelm
Obituary - The End Complete

The One Truly Crushing Obituary Classic - 85%

brocashelm, April 21st, 2006

I don’t have a good theory as to why it’s always seemed to me that some of the most popular bands in the death metal genre have failed to produce consistently classic albums, but still I feel it’s the inescapable truth. Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and our men of the hour Obituary, are among the top selling bands in the genre. But for my money, each band has only sporadically delivered the goods in a serious way on record. Obituary for example, issued what sounded to me like a half-finished debut album with 1989’s Slowly We Rot, then followed it up with a more complex but equally water-treading sophomore effort in the following year’s Cause Of Death. But fortunately The End Complete bought the band’s strengths into focus, resulting in an album the band could brag about.


Here’s the thing: what Obituary does best is hammer out mercilessly heavy riffs. That’s it. Much in the style of their heroes, Celtic Frost, the band had a knack for penning unbelievably dense guitar sound slabs and pounding them into the ground with neither regard nor finesse. Which, if they didn’t do it well, would not be enough to sustain an album’s worth of material. But when “I’m In Pain,” “Corrosive,” “Killing Time,” and the almost beyond belief title cut wear those riffs so damn well, the complaint department is closed. Another key here is John Tardy’s unmistakably retching vocals, which lack the depth of other death metal glass gargle singers but more than make up for it in utter disgust. Few other vocalists really, truly sound like they’re about to vomit with every line they sing, but Tardy has this talent very much in his corner.


Quibbles? The sound could be a bit broader, the guitars all seem to congeal into a single hammering mass rather than being at all distinct from one another, and the drums could have a lot more low end. But as the title song’s insistent coda riff screws itself for what seems like an eternity into your brain, you hardly notice that shit.


From here on in, Obituary would, for the most part, tread water, and their big comeback in 2005 was really nothing of the kind. Despite that, THE END COMPLETE is a monster.