Inked in Blood

One could be forgiven for ignoring Obituary's new album Inked In Blood. After all, how different can one expect it to be, given that the band effectively stalled their sound in 1990 and seldom bothered adding anything new? In some ways they would be right, but Inked In Blood somewhat rejuvenates the Obituary sound.

On the surface this is the Obituary we all know. However, there are some differences that make this a far more interesting release then the last spate of Obituary comeback albums.

Firstly, whilst the sound is typical Obituary in many ways, it actually sounds bouncier and more upbeat than usual. The key here is the production. The drum sound is far less flat than on previous albums. The guitar sound is trademark Obituary, but again sounds more immediate and energetic. And there are some delicious riffs and solos.

Secondly, the music is slightly groovier and, dare I say it, occasionally more melodic. There seems to be slightly more nods to thrash and conventional heavy metal with less pure death metal than on some of their previous efforts. There are still a few typical Obituary plodding dirges, especially in the middle of the album. They are not bad per se and the production helps, but one wishes they had a bit more pizazz.

In some ways Inked In Blood reminds me of Bolt Thrower's Those Once Loyal, in that whilst the music is essentially the same as always, subtle changes in sound and song writing result in a far more enjoyable listening experience than some of their previous newer albums. However, unlike Bolt Thrower's brilliant swansong, Obituary don't quite nail it due to occasionally derivative song writing and due to the fact that the makeover is in many ways more cosmetic than the deeper structural changes that Bolt Thrower underwent.

So five years after the rather average Darkest Days, Obituary find themselves rejuvenated on Inked In Blood. This is an album that won't disappoint long time fans and shows the old beast still has some life in it.

This one is no 'Cause of Death', it is merely average, nothing inherently special or worthy of admirable praise. It's not a total dud or bore, that would take out the effectiveness of the album. I neither think of this release as a waste or total gem, it lies flat in the average death metal category. It's nothing that's extremely extravagant musically, but you know it's "them", just a somewhat more modern form of "them." These guys are notorious for creating slow, demented musical lines with vocals that are gruesome, but on here you get more of a higher end form of John Tardy, not the low-end style that was self-evident in the earlier days of the band. You definitely get the brutal riffs here though.

What distinguishes this one from their prior releases have to be felt in the production sound quality as well as the vocals/music. Their use of thick guitar chords are a self-evident truth in pretty much all of their releases, however, the quality in the riffing here isn't markingly high. They are less creative on this one which would lie in the musical department. I didn't hear anything astonishing. It just seemed like a repeat of guitar riffs and sub-par mixing quality. The atmosphere is still dark, but would've been better if Tardy's vocals were more brutal. They seemed to lack spunk in their efforts and their lead guitarist is no James Murphy. He tries to capture that effect that Murphy had on the band.

This is a listenable release, however, don't expect anything that is glorious or exceptional. It seems like as a band, they've lost effectivenes. I mean to say that the music is average and the vocals are still all right, but the album's overall efficacy isn't there. They're just playing mostly bar chords with some tremolo picking going on there. The concept here is still Obituary's death metal sense which distinguishes them from the rest of the death metal community, but as far as something to get a physical copy of the CD to support the band is in question. I mean I'm glad that I got a copy of this album, but the younger generation of death metal fans may view this as just as being repetitive as well as slow.

My contention regarding 'Inked In Blood' is that it does have its moments where the music grasps you, takes you into the abyss of the grimness, and aura that reflects a bit of the old era. A less than handful of original members are left in the band, but still, I think that the songwriting could've been a little bit catchier. There wasn't anything that flat out grasped me in an extraordinary sense. I think that their unique style remains, just the music wasn't very catchy or noteworthy. They just put out mediocre guitar and I'd say some decent guitar leads echoing out there, but none that could ever top that of James Murphy's. That guy was in a league of his own when it came to leads!

No, this isn't a monumental or hallmark performance musically, I thought it just a mediocre sensation of Obituary's output. Yes, there are some fresh and good pieces there and my expectations weren't exceptionally high here, but what I heard on this album as I put it to study on was that it's decent, yet just mediocre. Tardy's old style of vocals isn't there, it's simply a higher end version of him, though you do know that it IS him. The production quality was just bland in a way. I think that it could've been better, though it struck me as just being flat-sounding. You get some of Obituary's old tendencies with a more modern tinge of them. This band has been around for a while! YouTube it first I'd say.

I feel the criticism surrounding Kickstarter is just. What was intended to be a financial boost for the little guy has become the easy way out for the big dogs. Zach Braff and Spike Lee, two well-known Hollywood buffs/dipshits, did not need handouts—they could bone the wife of a CEO and still get what they asked for handed to them on a golden plate, for Christ’s sake—but they, among others, sacked the crowdfunding program anyhow, effectively hijacking the valorous attempt to start a legitimate program. When Obituary announced they were crowdfunding album number nine, what would eventually become “Inked in Blood,” it appeared to be another example of Kickstarter misuse.

Obituary could punch Brian Slagel in the nuts and still get a record deal with the works added. Why ask for money, especially from your fans? I didn’t like the idea. But I felt it was important to keep an open mind and see things from the band’s perspective. No record label breathing down their necks; no obligations, creative or contractual, to chain the recording and the release of the album; and total artistic control over the final product. Heard that, Obituary. It says clear as day on Obituary’s Kickstarter page that they wanted to make an album strictly for Obituary listeners—the old fogies from back in the day, the new kids who are warming up to death metal, the dudes still rocking a copy of “Slowly We Rot” in their CD players. No lamewad labels allowed.

I suppose it is common in the Kickstarter community to offer ‘perks’ to funders. Obituary, for instance, offered backers a chance to score exclusive merchandise, or have their name posted in a PDF file listing the project’s benefactors if they forked up five bucks, which sounds like a blast if you get off to spending five bucks on a PDF file. Long story short, after what some might consider an autistic amount of research, I coughed up forty dollars. There was no way in Hell I was going to spend a small fortune just to go to a barbeque with the Tardy brothers overcooking my ribs and limiting me to seventeen beers, so forty big ones had to do. Not only did I score a copy of “Inked in Blood,” but a combo pack featuring an Obituary t-shirt, an Obituary camo hat, and my name in the PDF file (I couldn’t get the Obituary beer koozie without paying more). Worth forty bucks? Hell no, but hey, life is meaningless. Even if the album sucked the big one, I’d be forty bucks in the hole. Big deal.

When my package arrived, stocked full to the brim with Obituary items graced with that good Obituary goodness, I was in awe. Immediately my Obituary shirt and camo hat were placed in their appropriate positions. Together they brought out a side of me that was primitive, manly, some might say that of a cave dweller. Everywhere I went, women were deeply aroused by my presence. The Neanderthalish essence permeating from my exclusive Kickstarter gear made them all sorts of stimulated; I almost needed to hire a cleanup crew to mop up the rivers of girl goo secreting from the you-know-whats of these amazed women. Short, tall, plump, thin, beautiful, ugly—none could resist the allure of my Obituary camo hat and t-shirt. I went to the bar one night, rocking my exclusive Obituary gear, of course. Some dude wanted to kick my ass, but once I showed him the PDF file with my name on it, he backed down and bought me a beer. The magic of Kickstarter at work.

But the whole point of crowdfunding was “Inked in Blood” itself, right? As the album intended to be the band’s most liberated effort, the effects of proper songwriting and precision in Obituary’s craft are alive and well. While it fails to rival the classics, “Inked in Blood” is the longest Obituary outing, clocking in at fifty minutes. A solid excursion from these death metal juggernauts presented through nonstop violence is nothing out of the ordinary; they’ve been a consistent band for the most part. The music runs with a familiar theme of refusing to change things up, but why would Obituary make a dramatic shift now? Do they really need to? The answer is no.

“Inked in Blood” is one of the better offerings in the Obituary catalog. It mostly excels by capturing the comprehensive idea of Obituary while not feeling restrained by the band’s lack of creative elements (they aren’t adventurous songwriters, you know). The lack of diversity among these tunes is rendered null by the constant barrage of solid death metal riffs and grooves constantly being hammered out over John Tardy’s shouts, which are excellent as always. I find it hard not to enjoy ultra-heavy groove numbers like “Visions in my Head” that bring out the basic joys of death metal; simple, bruising riffs and stomping rhythms, not much else.

“Centuries of Lies” and “Violence” are a bit more up-tempo, in and out in just a slither over two minutes. It’s an Obituary album; no cryptic message hiding in the carnage. The bass has more prominence underneath these tracks, I believe. Perhaps this is due in part to the addition of Terry Butler, or maybe it is mere coincidence, but either way, the role of the bass seems to be more pivotal here than other Obituary works. Towards the end the tracks tend to flow together due to the record’s unnatural running time and the general uniformity of Obituary’s abilities. Still, “Inked in Blood” is meaty and bloody; death metal for the Paleolithic man in us all.

“Inked in Blood” is solid as a rock, but with the incredible extras added, I am now completely on the side of crowdfunding. Thank you, Obituary, for giving the fans what they want. Not just a killer record, but camo hats and t-shirts and baller PDF files that significantly improve one’s quality of life—we all know these wonderful items would not have seen the light of day had some scummy label been in the mix. This is why we need Kickstarter, folks. I can only imagine how much greater my existence might have been if I’d snagged the Obituary beer koozie as well. I bet the workload of Planned Parenthoods nationwide would be off the charts.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com

Obituary always struck me as an odd band despite their legendary status as one of the oldest death metal groups. Their method of simpler movement schemes and random, off-the-cuff vocals and lyrics made for the occasional good listen, yet they just couldn't stand out against the bloodstorms of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death and the like, thereby lowering their card status all the more. The increasingly downgraded songwriting method from "The End Complete" to the ending-with-the-whimper "Back from the Dead" certainly didn't help, either, but I guess if nothing else their revival and continued existence in spite of just about everything in their way should still be noted. They just really couldn't catch a break, it seems. And while it took some time (and some crowdfunding), a new batch of songs in as many years still saw the light of day...

The best way to describe "Inked in Blood", if not the group itself, would be a band with far more ambition than ability, jamming out material more limiting than their intentions could hope for; earnest in nature but ultimately too uninspired and flat to be truly enjoyed by anyone other than the most pigeon-holed/ing of extreme metal aficionados. But good times can still be had here if you can look long and hard enough...the solidness of the performance is easily the best and brightest appeal, being able to make the material therein more interesting than it ever could in the hands of other, far smaller-in-scope acts. The guitars have plenty of rust in their tone, the vocals are still chaotic and out there, and the mid-tempo rumblings have more of a methodical steamrolling feel as opposed to a blizzard of machine gun-style blasting that some could have seen coming a mile away, which by itself is a nice change of pace; that old school feel versus your average speed-a-thong sessions very well being the one thing that makes the group stand out . However, occasionally the tempo ups itself and results in finer listens through and through (e.g. the thrashtastic "Violence" having the capacity to knock one on one's arse before he even knows it), so at the very least it's not a face-planting failure. So there's that.

However, the entirety of the affair isn't what I'd call fantastic, or even great. Good, at best, with the biggest fault being the lack of differing ideas within each and every track. As I'd said before, Obituary comes off as a band with a clearer sense of ideas and intentions without the capacity to properly execute them, and this has always been a big issue with them from the start. It seems a bit sadder this time around due to the very dated feel of both music and group, and the album itself just sorta flits on by after your appreciation level sinks after the first few songs. The album's production is also kind of a mess; though each bit of the instrumentation is clear in their own rights, the whole general feel is awfully uneven, almost like it got one, maybe two, different mixed before being sent away for the mastering/post-production process, resulting in the somewhat jagged feel of the different layers of each track not coalescing with one another. Could it have been intentional? A thumb in the eye of conventional production methods? I really can't say, but what I can say is that it sounds a bit out of place in this particular era. It may have worked in the 80s, but today I'm not so sure...

All in all I can't say I was totally impressed with "Inked in Blood", where though the band still sounds focused and tight they're still showing their stylistic age. There will always be a place for Obituary within the death metal pantheon, but believe me when I tell you that other bands have been able to take the genre-based torch and truly run with it. Legit fans apply only.

Finally a new album by Obituary. It's been like decades? Well okay only 5 years, but it seems a lifetime ago. I'm a huge Obituary fan, like I put the fanatical in....fanatical. If you looked up the word fanatical in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of me with a Cause of Death shirt on (Or World Demise, if I had a shirt of that. Come to think of it, I don't have a Cause of Death shirt either....damn.) I got into Obituary a bit later on in my death metal listening. I've had Slowly We Rot for many years, and always thought it was good, but never got around to listening to the rest of their discography until two some years ago. That's when Obituary catapulted into my all time favorite death metal band. So I haven't been waiting as long as other fans for a new bomb to drop from Obituary, but it's still felt like forever. This is especially true considering I did the Kickstarter for this album in September 2013, and just recently got the package with the CD, vinyl and all the little goodies. I thought it was cool what they were trying to do and I want to support my favorite bands, so I did it, and I have to say the results production wise are....more than what I had hoped for. However, does the album as a whole reach the level of expectations I had? Not quite, but then again, my expectations for an Obituary album are going to be sky high. So, not quite reaching said expectations still makes for a pretty solid album, and that's what Obituary has with Inked in Blood, a solid album. Not great, but decent, and a decent Obituary album is still a lot better than most of what can be found these days.

Which brings me to how little Obituary has changed their style over the course of their 25+ year career. I mentioned this in my Slowly We Rot review and Inked in Blood yet again confirms how much, as I put it, a "living fossil" of death metal they truly are. They'll never evolve, and I don't want them to! Nothing but the most old school of techniques are found on Inked in Blood, with their familiar riffing style being completely intact. Their quick scratchy chugging, simple chord progressions, occasional violent tremolo-ish bursts of energy and slow/mid-paced grooves are all present. These are the riffing traits that tie together all Obituary albums and make their music so damn awesome, addicting and catchy, which is why I am able to enjoy nearly all of their albums to a large degree (aside from perhaps Xecutioner's Return, which isn't a terrible album, just not good). Some may complain about their lack of innovation, creativity and progress, but I won't. I love their style wholeheartedly, and if they continue to make Inked in Blood albums for the rest of their career, I'd be just fine with that. It's who they are, and they should be who they are; the best old school death metal band ever. If you want something innovative (even though Obituary helped innovate the entire genre of death metal), then go listen to the newest Morbid Angel abomination....Oh you don't want to? Why's that? Don't enjoy club thumpthump beats with your death metal for the sake of "innovation"? Well, I don't blame you.

The strongest aspect of Inked in Blood by far is the production. There is no question in my mind this is the best production they've had since the 1990s. Inked in Blood has a dynamic production in the sense that the riffs are vicious and violent, but the bass and drums sound very warm, full and organic. This adds a depth to the production that has been missing on previous albums such as Darkest Day and Xecutioner's Return. The productions of those albums sounded flat and lifeless, especially Xecutioner's Return. Not the case here though on Inked in Blood, as the overall sound of the album is diverse, with the gooey bass and drums contrasting with the bloodsoaked, violent, reverberating guitar riffs. The production reminds me of a mix between Back from the Dead and Darkest Day, with a touch of The End Complete, due to the gooey, bassy low-end, but with the violent distortion of Back from the Dead overtop in the guitar riffs and vocals. I feel Inked in Blood took the best of the production techniques of the previous mentioned albums and bash-mashed them into something truly great production wise. Inked in Blood sounds like it could have come straight out of the 1990s—a very good thing in my book.

Donald Tardy is one of the most underrated drummers ever I swear. His ability to drum some of the most fascinating and creative cascades of fills and rolls around kick ass headbanging death metal drum patterns, while purely and only serving the song, is unmatched. The drumming in Inked in Blood is absolutely superb in all respects. Going back to the production, the punchy, organic and full drum tone is the best I've heard in many years. The bass drums sounding like a punch to the gut every time he kicks down on them. Donald Tardy's actual playing is as great as ever, he hasn't lost a step in the five years since Darkest Day, considering the slow, groovy and restrained bashing in "Pain Inside", to the full out violent, machine gun double bass assault during the closing moments of "Within a Dying Breed", which is perhaps some of his most angry and violent drumming on record. He has always been immensely versatile and one wonders what he could do if he completely shook off the chains of restraint and unleashed his full potential, although it's for the best he doesn't, as that wouldn't fit within the Obituary sound.

The riffs, on the other hand, aren't spectacular. They're a mixture of mediocre, okay and solid, but overall aren't going to convince the casual fans that Obituary is back and stronger than ever. However, for diehard fans, I think they'll be pleased with the riffing here on Inked in Blood. As I mentioned above about the production, the guitar riffing also reminds me closely of a mixture between Back from the Dead and Darkest Day. As if they took the better ideas of those two albums and mashed them together. There are a plethora of lumbering, mid-paced groovy riffs like in the opening to "Inked in Blood" and a handful of slower, doomy riffs like in "Pain Inside", which dominate most of said song, and could fit seamlessly into Back from the Dead. Every once in awhile, Obituary will speed the mid-pace plodding up into a vicious tremolo-ish riff accompanied by a violent faster double bass section, but this is noticeably less frequent on Inked in Blood in comparison to other albums. The most obvious example of them speeding up the entire tempo of the album can be found in the closing moments of "Within a Dying Breed", and is definitely one of the highlights of the album, with its sheer violent force coming out of seemingly nowhere from the mid-paced groove of earlier. This song also has a rather strange "drum solo" ending (if one can call it that); just a couple of odd echo-y bangs on the toms to close out the song. What does that mean? What does that signify? I don't know, but it was kind of cool.

When I first heard "Centuries of Lies" it actually reminded me quite a bit of "Into the Timewastes" by Asphyx with its blunt, abrupt grinding tremolo-ish riff center with quick note shifts and a simple, propulsive skank beat going on underneath. The notes of the riffs found in each song actually sound quite similar and the drum beats are also similar. The first time I played Inked in Blood, I got confused for a second and thought I put in Deathhammer! Or perhaps thought they pressed the wrong album onto my CD, which has happened to me before, funny enough. I ended up buying Napalm Death - Scum and to my disappointment fucking Entombed was pressed on there, god dammit. Not only do I dislike Entombed, but I already had that damn album by them anyway, just my luck. So yeah, "Centuries of Lies" sounds like "Into the Timewastes", at least during that opening section.

The solos on Inked in Blood are certainly a bit of an improvement from the past two efforts. Not all of them are particularly great, as some of them don't mesh as well with the riffing as I'd prefer. However, they also don't last as long and aren't as obnoxiously loud and wanking as the lead guitarist on the previous two albums. For example, the beginning of "Pain Inside" has a rather dissonant Slayer-esque solo going on in the background that gives the song a creepy, eerie atmosphere to start. While, on the other hand, "Back on Top" possesses an extended rather mediocre flailing solo that gets a bit wanking, and doesn't really serve the song particularly well. Although, I've never been a big fan of guitar solos in general, so others might dig it. Inked in Blood closes out fantastically too, with another extended, jagged, wailing Slayer - Hell Awaits type solo going on under the grinding riffs and double bass pummeling.

The vocals are slightly disappointing on Inked in Blood, which I was thoroughly surprised about—since John Tardy always performs superbly. He's by no means bad on this album, but it feels like he's using a slightly higher register than previous albums and as a result sounds a bit strained and less powerful. He also doesn't seem to use his full range as much and sounds more monotonous. On earlier albums, he'd growl deeply and then suddenly shift into a higher scream on the same word, and even sometimes on the same syllable, creating what I previously called a "rhythmic progression". Those dynamics aren't as apparent on Inked in Blood and the vocals suffer, in both dynamics and morbidity. However, don't get me wrong, John Tardy can still spew out some of the sickest, vomitest vocals in death metal, but they just aren't quite as insane and vulgar as previous efforts. Oddly, John Tardy actually sounds a bit like Mike Williams from Eyehategod on this album, due to his use of higher-pitched extended screams in a lot of the songs. I know it's a weird comparison, but I'm weird, and that's who the vocals in Inked in Blood keep reminding me of. Hell, maybe on the next album Obituary and Eyehategod can collaborate for that missing "innovation", and instead of releasing a joke rap track, they can release a sludge track. How bad ass would that be? (Answer: WAY super bad ass awesome.)

Some people are just impossible to please, and I suspect Inked in Blood will garner some eye-rolling and shit-flinging from those types. Pay no mind to them though if you're a diehard lover of all (or most) things Obituary, because Inked in Blood possesses the classic old school style they've been violently spewing forth since the late 80s, but with the best production since the 90s. I also have a feeling Inked in Blood may be a grower of an album, just like Immolation - Kingdom of Conspiracy from last year, because the more I listen to it, the more I find myself digging the simple, savage, groovy riffs and warm, gooey, punchy drums. Inked in Blood is also a very consistent album, not exactly having any super standout songs, but also not really having any particularly weak songs either. All of the songs are decent, with moments of brilliance that get me headbanging (such as the violent closing of "Within a Dying Breed"). Expecting (or even wanting) Obituary to change at this point in their career and completely reinvent their sound is hooey, and all diehard Obituary fans should slap anyone that even thinks that. Yes, I'm advocating the persecution of thoughtcrime for such a vile, heinous sin. Suggesting Obituary should change now is like suggesting Brad Pitt dye his hair black and pretend to be George Clooney, or suggesting Michael Jackson should become white just after the release of Thriller for the sake of change....oh....wait (I swear I thought he was white when I was a little tyke). Do I feel Inked in Blood could benefit from having more surprising twists and turns, and more daring songwriting? Absolutely, one needs look no further than World Demise for that. However, suggesting Obituary be anything than what they are; Obituary, is crazy talk and anyone who thinks that should be taken to Arkham Asylum and forced to endure The Joker's charming sense of humor for the rest of eternity. And for those that simply read the conclusion (I admit, I'm guilty of this sometimes), the too long, didn't read version of this review is the following; Inked in Blood is a solid album and dedicated Obituary fans will dig it. So don't wait any longer, go and buy!

Note: My version also came with a couple superb re-recordings of classic Slowly We Rot songs in "Intoxicated" and "Bloodsoaked", but with a much more gooey, squishy, and bloodsoaked production than the originals—akin to something sounding more like The End Complete. So I wouldn't hesitate to give these two bonus songs a listen as well, as they're pretty damn awesome.

I'm not going to delve too deeply into the controversy and politics behind the creation of this record. Yes, Obituary crowd funded the recording of this and then put it out on a label anyway. Yes, it seems awfully shady that they'd need or want to crowd fund an album in the first place...it's not like some label was going to 'stifle' their creative process...they're fucking Obituary. They might place an ill-advised death/groove metal rap track as a joke on one of their outings, but they're not going to be corralled into sounding like One Direction. If you've signed this band, then you pretty much know what you're getting; and as I have discovered through the actual musical content of Inked in Blood, what you are getting is more of the exact same riffs, grooves and vocal meters that the band has been largely rehashing since their first two, genuine classic albums Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death.

There is absolutely nothing on this new 'comeback' which seems even a fraction out of place, but that's exactly the problem with it: no fucking ambition whatsoever, and that's a tactic that painfully few bands ever pull off or should even be allowed to pull off. Where once this style of dirty, fuzzy, grotesque Floridian death metal reigned supreme for its unabashed primacy and vocal murder, it now seems just so redundant, a tactic playbook of stock rhythm guitars which are ultimately really dry and ineffectual. That's not to fault the production values here...the bass is roiling and loud, the guitars are like having your guts twisted into batter, the drums have a nice, flexible feel somewhere between the acoustic and augmented, and John Tardy can still sound like he's vomiting blood into a microphone, but all of the patterns here have already been mastered by the band long ago, were much catchier back then (tunes like "Body Bag" and "Memories Remain" are still far more memorable than any track on this...), and they don't really add anything new apart from maybe an occasional pair of harmonized chords breaking into or out of a verse or lead ("Visions in My Head", "Violent by Nature"), or a bit of Southern haze over a doomy riff, an ingredient that was likely drafted over from the Tardy Brothers project.

Now, Inked in Blood isn't entirely shit...for those who simply wanted more of the same that they've been getting for decades, but it stuns me that nothing here is even as striking as two of their most catering, accessible 90s tunes like the super-groovy "Don't Care" or the hardcore surge "Threatening Skies". A lot of this is that when it comes to the rhythm guitars, they stick to the same dull chord progressions instead of trying to put together something out of left field, something more evil and sinister. The band has long subsisted on Tardy's gruesome vocals, but the issue there is that they have not felt threatening or compelling themselves in quite some time. Tunes like "Back on Top" and "Visions in My Head" are so banal in the guitar department that they seem as if they took mere seconds to write...most groups could improv this entire album without any difficulty, just take a few of those old Hellhammer groove motifs and render them as unappealing as possible. As a result, Inked in Blood is beyond lazy, too invested in repeating itself of giving 'the fans what they want' which is rarely a good thing if that's the same audience which thought the last album was good.

I feel like in some alternate universe there might have been/still be an Obituary which built upon the morbidity and menace of the first two albums and progressed that into something really creepy, but this band went the opposite direction, trading in the cemetery spade for a pair of gym shoes. The album has no atmosphere, no creativity, no strong writing, not even a fucking song title stands out. If they'd throw some weirder guitars, some dissonance, some vocal effects, anything to vary this up a little it could go a long way towards building upon the band's legacy rather than becoming suffocated by it. Inked in Blood can't necessarily be accused of being terrible, because it's twice the album Frozen in Time was (not saying much). But it's just not enough for a band that has so long enjoyed its status as a death metal legend, and if I'm being honest...there hasn't been 'enough' since I was a teenager. Fun live band, but their studio output is almost perpetually lacking.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com