As you all might know by now, Obituary is among us again! A lot has been said and written about their return, their intense concerts and their new album?Frozen in Time? My personal expectations of the new album were high, and since I already listened to it, I have the privilege to write something about it. After several listening sessions, all of them sober, I just can say this: YES!
First thing that caught my attention, is that you can hear the enjoyment these five friends had during the writing and recording time. The songs sound fresh and well thought, definitely. But each of the ten songs could easily fit on any other Obituary album, from ‘Slowly we rot’ to ‘Back from the Dead’. All the numbers sound so familiar, even if you hear them for the first time. I guess that any other band, which would do this same trick, would lose a lot of fans and credibility. But not Obituary! Why? This album has the best elements from all the previous Obituary albums combined to one of the grooviest Obituary albums so far. We all know that it’s impossible to make an album like ‘Slowly we Rot’ or ‘Cause of Death’ nowadays. And that’s good, because that was back then and we are fifteen years further. People and musicians grow in those years. You can’t expect people to make and create the same music over and over again.
?Frozen in Time? is all mid-tempo deathmetal with Celtic Frost sounding guitars, something that Obituary has always done and hopefully will continue to do. The vocals are still as nasty as we know from John. And why not, sometimes it’s good not to change a winning team. Besides, what can you expect when a band has been asleep for so long? ‘Insane’, ‘Lockjaw’ which has an astonishing riff; ‘On the Floor’ and ‘Mindset’ are the new Obituary classics. With this album Obituary will get the attention of the younger people who don’t know Obituary’s past and at the same time the old fans won’t be disappointed by it.
