The End Complete

To this reviewer, Obituary, though rightfully heralded as being among the founding fathers of the now legendary Florida death metal scene, have always been more about the name than the actual substance behind the name. It can hardly be denied that their music, for all its undisputed heaviness and brutality, is somewhat limited in scope, even when compared to the early work of some of their Floridian brethren. Take Chuck Schuldiner’s legendary band Death, for instance: Scream Bloody Gore or Leprosy aren’t exactly intricate or sophisticated either, but they still boast more variation, depth and instantly recognizable songs than much of Obituary’s output over the course of their lengthy career.

The End Complete was Obituary’s third studio album, and if blunt force—and blunt force only—is what you’re looking for, this might be right up your alley. You should not, however, have any expectations beyond that. Obviously the biggest complaint about this is the lack of variation and the resulting monotony. The music is best described as brutal, groove-oriented, mid-tempo death metal featuring some nice (though rather disharmonic) guitar leads, a number of good enough solos and brief outbursts of speed, yet very little in the way of melody, technicality or truly captivating moments.

Where Cannibal Corpse are the manic serial killer turned flesh-eating zombie, combining undeniable technical prowess with unbridled brutality and aggression, and Morbid Angel with their occult satanic aura are the infernal priest cutting his human sacrifice to shreds, Obituary are more like the club-wielding caveman: he will bash your head in, and he will do it slowly and methodically until all that’s left is an amorphous mess consisting of gooey blood, bone fragments and bits of brain matter.

If there’s one thing The End Complete does particularly well it’s successfully conveying the intended atmosphere. The album’s title and cover artwork—which is simply excellent and perhaps among the most iconic in all of death metal—will give you a good idea of what it’s all about, and the music backs it up perfectly. If the apocalypse and the sensation of standing at the edge of a huge blackened abyss that swallowed every field, forest or river, along with every trace of human civilization, could be adequately put into musical notes, this is what the resulting symphony would sound like: bleak, barren and nihilistic. The most successful track in that regard is the monolithic “Rotting Ways,” which brings the album to a convincing conclusion. There’s also no denying The End Complete gets off to a promising and, in a literal sense, quick start, as “I'm in Pain” and “Back to One” are two of the more memorable and less plodding cuts. The following tracks more or less repeat the same formula, albeit to varying degrees of success, until the album picks up steam again with the straightforward “Killing Time,” the crushing title track and the aforementioned “Rotting Ways.”

Meanwhile, singer John Tardy is his usual devastating self, growling, gargling and wheezing his way through the album, while drummer Donald Tardy makes a favorable impression with a basic yet powerful performance. The drums are simple yet effective, with lots of double-bass play and some timely tempo changes as well as occasional bursts of speed. They also happen to be rather high in the mix, whereas the guitars, which are downtuned to the point of sounding a bit dull-edged and muffled, lack definition and crunch.

In all, The End Complete is decent for what it is and what the band intended it to be, but it’s also a bit too ho-hum to get you really excited. It’s mostly mid-tempo oriented death metal focusing more on groove and blunt brutality rather than all-out aggression, technical refinement or epic harmonies. Then again, the fact that the songs lack variation and memorability—truth be told, it’s really difficult to even tell them apart most of the time—is somewhat offset by the album’s short duration, so the whole thing doesn’t become altogether boring or hard to sit through. The End Complete is therefore not without its charm and it is certainly effective, making it a reasonably entertaining affair when you’re in the proper (apocalyptic) mood, but it’s likely not an album you’ll find yourself coming back to very frequently.

If you’re already a fan of the band and their particular brand of Floridian death metal, you cannot go wrong with this one; if you’re new to the band and expect something mind-blowing, you’ll likely end up feeling a little underwhelmed.

Choicest cuts: Back to One, Killing Time, The End Complete, Rotting Ways

Rating: 7.0 out of 10 points

I like this album for many reasons. First, it's brutal and original. Secondly, no one has this type of sound on the guitars in metal except them. And thirdly, John Tardy's vocals are like no other. So on many accounts Obituary is a Floridian based original death metal act. The album here is dark and grim the atmosphere is quite intriguing as it's pretty dark. They have some good songs on here, I don't care what anyone says. They're unique and still getting established in the death metal world. This is what their 3rd LP and they're kicking major ass. I don't regret buying this CD rather than have a digital copy.

The guitars are riff-tastic and the leads are somewhat technical, not as much as with James Murphy on 'Cause of Death. But still, the music and production are spectacular. I like the fact that this album IS pretty slow. Don't know why people termed this album as being "lame." I thought it was a great effort by the band making original sounding music. I liked it the whole way through here. The drums kicked ass as well! The aggression is there too. No need to waiver for which Obituary is the best, just put on 'The End Complete' and you have an avenue that covers all aspects of death metal.

I think that the mixing was good as well! Everything about this album I like. I like the vibe. It definitely is an album to lift weights to in the background. It's got that much electric feel to it. I cannot believe people really thought ill of this album. I don't care I think the Tardy brothers and rest of the band did the death metal community justice with this album. Being that it was a follow-up for a hard album to top, but they came out with riffs that were fresh and music that was ultimately brutal. The guitars and vocals are what I like the most about Obituary. They really are unique from all respects.

I would venture to say here that because I'm biased and grew up on Obituary in the death metal scene that I say buy the LP. You'll get a kick out of it's originality and innovative guitar riffs. The production does it justice too. I think that they did a great job on here. I wouldn't ever say to play this album to go to sleep to even though at times it is slow but too brutal to get shut-eye to. It's just interesting to hear the music just flow. The riffs by the guitarists Trevor and Allen did a good job in creating amazing music that I should be playing more often. Definitely a kick ass release with all the way into the end you'll love 'The End Complete'!

While The End Complete may be an album that sold very well in its day, and is fondly remembered as one of the band's better albums, to me it's always listened like a pale imitation of the successes Obituary had before it. It's the sound of a band running into a creative brick wall as they attempt to replicate their older albums with little success, resulting in a mediocre and redundant effort that signalled the start of an incredibly long barren stretch in the band's discography. It's a totally uninspired (and uninspiring) album that offers nothing to challenge the listener at all, whether they've heard their older albums or not.

The End Complete is very much a stylistic replica of Cause of Death, which is what holds this release back. While that certainly isn't a bad formula to copy, the execution leaves something to be desired. The same style of Celtic Frost-inspired brutal, tense, atmospheric and mid-tempo death metal is attempted here, but the band does not have any fresh riffs to put into the songs or any new and interesting ideas or song structures to progress their formula, and what results are 9 inferior and redundant retreads of what the band had done before. The songs here never challenge or excite the listener by doing anything beyond alternating between boring mid-tempo riffs and slightly less boring faster riffs over and over; there are no curveballs here to speak of. None of the riffs are really ear-grabbing or interesting (certainly not nearly as much as past efforts) and the band can't even get by on aggression alone as nothing is performed with much intensity or vigour. When the band speed up the music develops some kind of pulse but the mid-tempo drudgery that defines a lot of this makes the album very boring to listen to on the whole.

Quite amazingly, given that the preceding two albums are some of the most atmospheric OSDM albums ever recorded, this thing has no atmosphere to speak of - a consequence of the lacklustre material being delivered in a tired-sounding way. The band simply go through the motions here and deliver an uninspiring take on what should be a foolproof formula; even those who haven't heard Cause of Death would find this to be a severely underwhelming and also-ran album. The production doesn't help either, with everything sounding remarkably quiet and soft. There's no low-end to the sound at all, the drums sound like plastic and have no real impact, which is a shame as the drum performance here isn't bad; it just has to complement substantially inferior material. The guitars meanwhile sit in the middle of a lot of space with a tone that isn't terribly thick or distorted. It makes the music sound more tired and stale than it already is, as well as even less heavy or intense than it could have been. The production woes combined with the lack of good material and performances makes for music that sounds very meek, which isn't a word I'd ever thought would describe a death metal album. The only aspect that really holds up is John Tardy's vocal performance; his distinctly disgusting, high-pitched puking growls that are splattered all over the music are as strong as they were before.

The End Complete is a creatively stagnant bore of an album that offers nothing to actively engage the listener. At best it is death metal-flavoured background noise, or something that sounds like the work of a third-rate Obituary clone. The band do nothing to further their sound here, it's as if they tried to make this sound as mediocre and same-y as possible. Amazingly, their following album World Demise is a step up from this; at least something new was attempted there, even if it doesn't always work - this meanwhile sits in their discography like Cause of Death's malnourished, deformed twin. There is nothing of interest here, move along.

Obituary came full-circle after a lengthy European tour with James Murphy, and original lead guitarist Allen West returned to the band, ousting Murphy to begin his band-hopping once more. With West back in the fold, songwriting resumed for Obituary, and with a largest budget yet, it was expected that the upcoming album would also be their best yet, especially since the old boys were back together. This would be far from the case, and even though this would go on to be the band's biggest-selling album, it would also prove to be musically, their most underwhelming experience for older fans, plus the last in their classic sound.

It can hardly be blamed on the Floridian quintet to try making their music a little more appealing, since they were quickly becoming R/C Records/Roadrunner's biggest-selling death metal act, plus I'm sure the label just wanted them to bring more accessibility to their so-far winning formula of primitive punishing songs, already more accessible by nature than most of the blasting taking place elsewhere in the scene. The changes were subtle in technique, moving from songs of linear constructive to more cyclical songwriting of the verse/chorus type found in most other genres of metal or rock, and songs with more tangible lyrics this time through. This of course meant John Tardy would need to enunciate more clearly as he once did in the 80's, but he still keeps most of his vocal barf-style intact here.

The biggest, most noticeable thing here is the crispness and sterility of the productions. It's unusual for a Scott Burns productions to be so mainstream in style, with subdued distortion on the guitars, and a general warm, soft glow to the now non-triggered snare drums on Donald Tardy's kit. When one combines this immaculate, yet declawed sound design with the more conventional songwriting, it makes for a rather boring and non-threatening version of what fans had previously come to know as the Obituary sound. It felt like the band was mostly going through the motions, not pushing limits anymore, and rather just -trying- to deliver the most conventional, remarkably average album of their career. The formula for riffs returned to the bare-bones buzz of the debut, along with West's more dive-bombish solos (compared to the winding melodies of the ousted Murphy), but it couldn't save the mainstream sheen otherwise glazing this album and robbing it of it's bite. That bite would return on the next release, but we were no longer getting classic Obituary either by that point, so it's fairly moot.

There are a few tracks like the catchy "Back to One" the title track "The End Complete" and the album closer "Rotting Ways" that were catchy enough or had the last few flickers of the old spark to incite a few head bangs here and there, but overall, this feels like "one more for the road" from a band that was ready to move on from the sound that had identified it up until that point, not unlike what Sepultura did on the album "Arise" but of course with much less memorability than the boys from Brazil mustered. Most people discovered the band from this album, since it was their biggest seller, so we have to give it credit where credit is due. In the greater scheme of things, Obituary would do worse than this later on, nor is this by any means a bad record, it's just that it's not a particularly powerful one either, as if the band just needed to make an album of similar style on cruise control until they could plot their next jump.

In 1989, Slowly We Rot caused us to cling our Bibles in terror, hiding from the things beneath the bed and in the closet; John Tardy upping the gory game with vocals that stretched into terrifying incredulity. In 1990, Cause of Death took the same principle of sound and refined it into the best set of songs Obituary has ever (and likely will ever) unleashed upon the populace. Momentum was clearly in the band's favor, and thus when it was announced that their third effort would be dubbed The End Complete, I was personally expecting some anomaly of epic disgust that would shake the very foundations of all taste everywhere, and plunge us into the morbid, threatening skies (haw haw) of the apocalyptic, desolate cover art...

Well, safe to say that The End Complete is nowhere NEAR that level of quality, and in fact it is what I might consider one of the most 'overrated' albums in all of classic death metal. Now, I choose such a word carefully, knowing all of the butt hurt it will create, letter bombs and cow paddies being sent towards my address with due haste. I only use it here, because financially speaking, this album was clearly a success for Obituary, or for death metal in general, selling its fair share of copies. But it's really nothing more than Cause of Death II, with almost nothing to distinguish it from its vastly superior sibling. The riffs and patterns here are naught more than minor deviations to the formulas of the sophomore, with any potency and wretchedness being wrung out like old blood from a sponge. Yeah, some stain will remain, but not the memories (okay, enough with the cheap puns).

Now, naturally I am not opposed to an album following in the cemetery-treading footprints of its predecessor, but unfortunately that path has led to an unassailable stone wall of creativity. It's not the style of The End Complete that suffers, but the songwriting, which is honestly one of the laziest examples of 'paraphrasing' I've heard in this genre. Sure, many do it unconsciously, but this album truly feels like an egg scrambling of the first two. Shit, we need another album? Let's put on our thinking caps. 15 minutes later: Oh, fuck this, let's just rearrange some of the older songs, change up the leads, and profit. All of the sodden darkness of Cause of Death is drained out within about three songs here, the dull and warlike "I'm in Pain" with its predictable notation until the faster bridge fails to save it; "Back to One" which opens almost like a sequel to the great "Memories Retain" only far more boring; or the chugging, mud mosh of "Dead Silence", which, despite its decent leads and honest neanderthal moshing, is just as unmemorable.

Does the album get better than this? Not exactly. John Tardy still has what it takes to splatter the musical content throughout, and a few of the tracks in the thick make an earnest break for something more, like the lead to "In the End of Life". But these are counterbalanced by such generic fare as "Killing Time", whose initial bouncing escalation sounds almost entirely a doppelganger of Death's "Pull the Plug". About the only track that doesn't bore my socks off would be "The End Complete" itself, not because it's really noteworthy, but the primitive groove of the Hellhammer derived rhythms creates at least a moment or so of escape.

If this were the first death metal (much less Obituary) album I'd ever heard, and I had just fallen off the proverbial turnip truck, then it might have had more than a middling impact, but exposure to the band's prior output as it was being rolled out of the sewer and on to the retail shelves ensured that would not be the case. The End Complete was essentially The End of This Band Releasing Good Records. Maybe that's an overstatement...Xecutioner's Return was decent and a few of their groove/hardcore albums had some riffs worth revisiting, but this was truly the first sign that we were not looking at a death metal dynasty, but an empty parking lot of corpse strewn creativity. It might not suck, but neither does it suck the listener into the charnel crypts of its enormously superior, elder siblings.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This is not an album made in pursuit of money. It is not a sellout, it is simply a pure death metal album, made by people who love what they do. What makes Obituary amazing is exactly this: Rarely is there much difference in their albums, and they all possess a certain charm. Some may say derisively “all their albums sound the same.” To that, I say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Obituary had no reason to change their formula that worked so greatly on Cause of Death and Slowly We Rot. It was music they loved, and their fans loved, and it worked every single time.

That having been said, any fan of Obituary must add this album to their collection. Everything that makes Obituary good is present on this album: Fast-paced neckbreakers interrupted by slow and doomy sections, John Tardy’s “from the pit of Hell” vocal assault, and the manic guitar solos in every song. I find it hard to believe that any fan of Obituary could not enjoy this album.

While this entire album is killer (no pun intended), there are a few standouts: Sickness is the best song on the album, with its slow start kicked into high speed with the speedy guitar solos midway through the song. Killing Time is another good track, with the chorus being one of the best on the album, with John Tardy’s bloodsoaked vocals screaming “I’m Killing Time”. Classic. Opener “I’m in Pain” starts things off well before going into ‘Back to One”. All of the songs flow with each other, and all are stunning.

This album seems to have been revisited by Obituary themselves in later years: “Redneck Stomp” off Frozen in Time” has a riff rather similar to “In the End of Life”, and the vocal line in “Face Your God” off Xecutioner’s Return sounds like the vocal line in “Sickness”. Such self-referencing shows the greatness of this album.

If there is a problem with this album, it is the lack of outstanding songs on the album. There isn’t a “Slowly We Rot”, or “Chopped in Half” contained within. “Sickness” comes close, but doesn’t match up to the aforementioned classics. Still, I’d rather have an album filled with very good songs rather than an album with one or two outstanding songs followed by ten weak ones. Fortunately, the term “weak song” doesn’t exist in Obituary’s vocabulary, and “The End Complete” is proof of that.

While not Obituary’s greatest album, “The End Complete” is a very, very good album deserving of any death metal fan’s collection. Hats off to Obituary for continuing to deliver bonecrushing death metal time and time again. May you provide many more years of music.

Standouts: Sickness, Killing Time, The End Complete, I’m in Pain

It was hard for Obituary to release another top album after the uncontrollable fury united to the twisted atmospheres of one of the most representative and astonishing albums in death metal and not only; we are talking about Cause Of Death obviously. It was hard and even if they partially failed, this new The End Complete is a fucking good album. It’s quite different anyway from the predecessor in terms of production and atmosphere most of all, but not so if we are talking about the music: it’s always Obituary style death metal, plus in their finest hour!

If in Cause Of Death the main atmosphere was for the intros to the songs, here is from the guitars only. Let me explain: the morbidity in Cause Of Death was also thanks to the inhuman, rotten riffs by the guitars obviously, but in this new effort they lost completely those intros to focus the attention on the sheer guitars heaviness. Their sound here reached the top for malevolence, filthiness with that muddy distortion that made Obituary so famous. Already from a sick opener like “I’m In Pain” we have no doubt about how the CD will be from here ‘till the end.

The atmosphere is murky, rotten and the tempos are really suffocating. Some parts show already some more groovy tempos that would have been lately developed in the following World Demise. The up tempo parts are perfectly balanced with more technical and intricate sections with plenty of doom, rotten riffs. The drumming is perfect and violent enough with that unmistakable way of playing by Tardy. The sound of his drums is clear cut and really essential. In “Back To One” his brother at the vocals is a real animal. He’s the best singer in death metal in this period along with Frank from Suffocation, in my opinion.

Generally, the tempos are a bit less impulsive than in Cause of Death but far more mature without losing anything in terms of brutality and sickness. The guitars draw scenarios of pure gloom with always that stench of rotten carcass inside them. The lead guitar parts by Allen West are perfect for the Obituary sound and even if I did not dislike Santolla in Xecutioner’s Return, I must admit (I’ve always though this) that Allen is the man. He’s perfect for this muddy atmosphere. “Dead Silence”, “In The End Of Life” and “Back To One” alternate fast up tempos to more mid paced parts.

“Sickness” is mostly very fast, while the following “Corrosive” features stomp tempos to “relax” a bit under tons of murky riffs from the cemetery. The same thing could be said for the “Killing Time” song that anyway, doesn’t dislike faster sections in the middle. The title track never amused me so much, maybe for the “melody” on the verse or I don’t know, but it’s sure that the last “Rotting Ways” is one of the most twisted thing that the rednecks ever put out.

At the end, if you’re searching for decay, stench of decomposition and murky riffs, check this out and it won’t disappoint you. It’s another great release by the masters of death metal even if it comes directly after a masterpiece. Recommended!

I always argue with my girlfriend about the disastrous 90’s. She states that it was a time for diversity and I say diversity for BAD because the coolest bands were destroyed by the tastes from young ‘’bangers?’’. Death Metal did not escape this fashion but still good albums were put out. Actually there was no genre that escaped this depravation. With that said Obituary and fellow companions began to get lost in the mayhem. Obituary had released two of the best death metal albums and then The End Complete hit the stores.


I must say this is hell of a great album. If you are looking for cool and heavy yet technical riffs, catchy melodies, doom atmosphere, damnation lyrics, guitar slashing solos and those remarkable guttural vocals from Tardy this is it, this record is the one you are looking for. Not only is considered the best selling death metal album but it marks the evolving path for one of the best death bands who achieved worldwide recognition because of their impressive musical skills


The vocals, less to say are perfect for the genre, the guitar crunch and the total devastation holocaust feeling takes you to a post nuclear desert that is unavoidable. The drums certainly lack the power and calibration from COD and SWR but the improvement lies in technical skills and complexity with great tempo changes and textures, not to mention that Tardy does not need to go at full speed but he focuses on good rhythm techniques which is outstanding. The guitar duet on Trevor Perez and Allen West takes your breath away. They were along with the others the best line up they ever had.


When it comes to the songs I’m in Pain is the perfect opener, that intro chord and the desperate whispers from hell are ripping and now you get the idea what the album is like. Back to one follows and the mid tempo rhythm with the tempo changes and Tardy playing with his pedals are amazing. In the End of Life, Killing Time and the End Complete have all excellent riffs and outstanding rhythm parts in addition to their catchiness. To me, they are the highlights from the album.


There are heavier songs thou they are not like those from the past but still it is an amazing and surprising album for every taste even if you are not a hardcore old school death metal fan because this one sure is innovator. It is a pity that it was in fact their last solid record in all aspects, this one is great but their next releases lack something whether speed, aggressiveness, death atmosphere or anything or simply: feeling. In all a standout for the catastrophic 90s but it manages to fit perfectly in the new death metal fashion. Again, the Obies created a unique sound that will last for many years to come.

This was the first ever Death Metal album i heard in my life. Before this i just heard people talking about how nasty and stupid death metal was but knowing all i knew at that time was a bunch of conformist cunts I thought why not give it a try. When i heard the words "YOU WILL SOON COME WITH ME TO DIE!!!!!" I was fucking hooked to the madness and brutality known as Obituary.

Death Metal may have surpassed how loud and how "sick" the lyrics are but when this came out this was the loudest, sickest, heaviest thing to ever spill out of Florida. Every song has that nasty sound of the bass that just wraps around your ears like they are stuck in a thick fluid and can't escape its grasp and just sucks you in for more and the raw vocals take over and just pound on your eardrums until you can barley take anymore then a solo kicks in and your mind starts racing until everything stands still and a new song starts and you're in for the ride again.

From the ferocious intro solo to "Im in Pain" to the growls of "Sickness" to the slowed down doom like progression of "Rotting Ways" the excellence of this release stays up at a climax and never falls down.

This Album has an all and all gloomy, ugly atmosphere and they keep it that way. The sound of this album stays the same but it does not get redundant. Not many bands can keep a constant sound through an album but with this release you are always reminded of the joy of hell called Florida Death Metal.

In my opinion the best track on this album is the title track simply because of the riffs and that solo straight out of the bowels of hell. but tracks "In The End Of Life" "Sickness" and "Rotting Ways" really capture the essence and ugliness Obituary was trying to accomplish with this album.

This is an all and all very good album i gave it a 90% only because in all truthfulness it is a step down from "Cause of Death".

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.

After the well-taken Cause of Death, James Murphy left, and Allen West was re-inserted, the difference is quite obvious, the riffs are totally different than the previous 2. While they had more complex, but still simple riffs, this takes the simple but effective riffs further. They are catchy and heavy, but simple.

The production is quite a bit different too, more of a muddy, but not too muddy sound to it, the drum sound is the biggest difference, not quite as loud as they were on Cause of Death, but it works. The guitar has a little more of a flatter sound than COD, but has a good sound for the album. The bass is heard quite well, the vocals sound a bit more pushed back than the previous 2 also, and he doesn't really do that wild loud scream anymore, which I kind of miss, but oh well, John Tardy still has great vocals.

The logo is very different too, look at the previous 2 logos, then look at this, totally different, this is Roadrunners best selling shirt.

Now, does this album top Cause of Death? no that would be too hard. Does this album kick ass? very much. the album kicks off with "I'm in Pain" which has an interesting intro...it starts with feedback!, this is one of the faster tracks on it, nice riffs being thrown around, and a shredding solo. Just about all the tracks are good between the first and the title track, the only one I don't care for is "Corrosive" it's nothing special, this is why I took 5% off the album rating. Now The End Complete is probably the best song on here, a very catchy song all the way through, shredding solo, then a catchy outro riff which lasts about 2 minutes. Then comes Rotting Ways, which is one of the slowest on the album, also the longest, but has wicked nice riffs going around, creepy sounding riffs, a strong way to close a good album.

Well, there it is, if you liked Cause of Death, and don't mind a bit of a change, look here, if you want another Cause of Death, don't look here.

I think we all know the answer to the above question. No, The End Complete does not improve on (or surpass) Cause of Death, nor should it have. With The End Complete, Obituary added the speed mix of Slowly We Rot to the catchiness of Cause of Death.

Donald Tardy's drums - while nothing to write home about - keep you captivated. Especially on "Back to One", "Sickness" (which also has a very interesting riff), and "The End Complete".

As I mentioned earlier, this album is a lot faster than CoD, which means faster guitars in some parts, as well as agonizingly slow riffs in others. As with their other works, the riffs are not overly complicated, either, which will leave a sour taste in some people's mouths. The only death metal I can relate this to is Six Feet Under's early albums, such as "The Haunted" and "Warpath". The Murphy guitar solos add a nice touch, but are not supreme in any sense of the word. His best solos on the album comes in the title track, which seems to be full of them.

John Tardy's vocals seem to be a bit more audible as well, almost to the point of being able to hear all the lyrics. Of course, he never looses his trademark growl. How can you not love "You will... succumb... to me.. to die"?

Download or buy? Goodluck buying it. It's very hard to find nowadays. Even if it was available, I would recommend downloading it. I love Obituary, but The End Complete just isn't their best work. Hell, World Demise offers better cuts.