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Obituary – Slowly We Rot – Live & Rotting

obituary – slowly we rot – live & rotting

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Anyone who has ever seen an Obituary live show will agree that these veterans of American Death Metal sure know how to put on a solid show. OK, in the most recent years I’ve also seen them give a slightly more jaded impression, but that could be a snapshot in time – or maybe age after all, Obituary is very slowly heading towards its 40th anniversary. Either way, great though is the contrast between such a show in a sweaty venue with just a bit too many people crammed in with this somewhat clinical live exercise, recorded from a COVID-19-era online live stream.

It may miss that intense live sensation of Obituary, but the sound on this record is extremely good. Even when it is played all in one take and no overdubs were added. With the occasional yell, of a what I suppose is a crewmember or something, this feels more of an Obituary rehearsal in the Tardy brothers garage that you, chosen one, are allowed to experience.

The track list is almost exactly the same as on their downright legendary ‘Slowly We Rot’ debut album from 1989, making this an integral set of that classic record. While each live show after the release of their debut featured songs like ‘Til Death’ and the eternal fan favourite and title track, ‘Slowly We Rot’, we now get to hear a modern day Obituary take on those other tracks that were hardly, if ever, played live. The only difference in the set list is that the band has taken ‘Slowly We Rot’ from its original fourth place and pushed it back to be played last, right after the album closing track ‘Stinkupuss’.

After this highly enjoyable set of classics we get three more to grow on, as we are served with some bonus tracks. First one is the incredibly heavy, bludgeoning opener of ‘Frozen In The Time’: ‘Redneck Stomp’. Second is the Celtic Frost cover ‘Dethroned Emperor’, which they already recorded for the 2008 mini CD ‘Left To Die’. That Obituary has a soft spot for the Swiss is hardly a secret of course, not only did they already record ‘Circle Of The Tyrants’ on their ‘Cause Of Death’ album, but the entire Obituary sound is founded on that of Celtic Frost. Last track is ‘A Dying World’, the digital-only single from 2019.

Despite of course in no way even coming close to a real live experience, ‘Slowly We Rot – Live & Rotting’ has become a great record that can effortlessly be listened to from A to Z without getting bored for a single second. Because, honestly, there are simply very few Death Metal records as good as ‘Slowly We Rot’.