Obituary - Darkest Day

August 12, 2009

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

Buying an Obituary album is kind of like ordering a cheeseburger at a restaurant you’ve never been to before.  You can be fairly confident in your order because you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be getting some sort of beef disc on bread, and that it’ll be at least somewhat tasty.  With an Obituary album, you’re going to get what you expect: mid-down tempo death metal with anguished vocals, and a healthy side of chugging groove.  It’ll be at least somewhat tasty.  Darkest Day, Obituary’s eighth full-length album (third since their comeback), however, would be the equivalent to discovering that what you assumed would be a run-of-the-mill cheeseburger is in fact a sumptuous Kobe beef burger served on exquisite toasted bread with caramelized onions and melted gruyere cheese.  A pleasant surprise indeed.  And now I’m starving.

Where their last album Xecutioner’s Return was a bit of a misstep in an otherwise quality career resurgence, Darkest Day contains some of the band’s heaviest and strongest material in years.  All of the classic Obituary elements are present on Darkest Day, yet for some reason they all seem to work better together than they have since probably The End Complete.  The production quality is pristine, a vast improvement on the muddy recording of the previous album, and the songwriting is punchy and exciting.  These facts are immediately apparent when opening track “List of Dead” jumps off in a thrashy, rollicking manner, while “Blood to Give” and “Payback” are some of the most insanely groove-laden death metal tracks to come from the States in quite a while.  Bottom line: Darkest Day is an incredibly strong release from a veteran band that never truly disappoints, and a fantastic way to mark their 21^st year in the Death Metal genre.  Bravo!

Release Date: June 30th, 2009
Label:  Candlelight Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  List of Dead
2.  Blood to Give
3.  Lost Inside
4.  Outside My Head
5.  Payback
6.  Your Darkest Day
7.  This Life
8.  See Me Now
9.  Fields of Pain
10.  Violent Dreams
11.  Truth Be Told
12.  Forces Realign
13.  Left to Die

Total playing time: 52:39

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