Review by Jeger on May 28, 2025.

The abominable Obituary! Man, back in the day there was no one better. Their slow-grinding, riff-dominated brand of true Floridian death metal was something to behold indeed, like dragging a freshly disemboweled corpse through the fog-draped Southern swamp at a funeral procession's pace. Fuck all the light speed uber technical shit. They left that up to Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel. What you got with Obituary was down tuned Stratocaster mayhem and slow-rotting infection. John Tardy's vocals were the stuff of nightmares, and the music was unfiltered and astoundingly brutish, unlike today's polished Obituary product. They just don't make 'em like they used to: Slowly We Rot, Cause Of Death and The End Complete - lethal fucking weapons of recording destruction. In 1990, Obituary released the aforementioned Cause Of Death via Roadrunner / Roadracer Records.

Cause Of Death is the G.O.A.T. - quite simply the greatest death metal album ever released in my opinion. While the rest of the Tampa crew showed off, Obituary just brought it hard; relentlessly fucking brutal and with zero regard for the kind of amped up dynamic range that defined the Florida DM movement. This record features all of the very best Obituary tunes: "Infected", "Find The Arise" and "Circle Of The Tyrants" (Celtic Frost). The latter is the only "Tyrants" cover to have been fully endorsed by Thomas Gabriel Fischer. With Cause Of Death, Obituary capture that particular era's DM aesthetic perfectly - a beautifully-evolved-from-the previous-album effort and a specimen of engineering. Scott Burns: the mythic one, the mad scientist and the balls behind early '90's death metal engineering does more than just turn knobs. I interviewed Kam Lee (Death, Massacre) who stated that Scott was merely a button pusher, but I find that hard to believe considering the texture, the tonality and the layered fabric of this particular sonic tapestry, let alone his other works with bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide and Suffocation.

COD was recorded as a five piece with traditional lead and rhythm guitars; the only way to do it. This tried and true formula has all but gone by the wayside these days; having succumbed to the large number of three and four piece outfits that make up the current scene. Classicism incarnate is Cause Of Death, from the instruments that were used to record it, down to each track's conventional song structure: verse, chorus, verse and solo. If it ain't broke, why fix it?! It's records like this one, Carcass's "Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious" and Death's "Leprosy" that so properly encapsulate every defining element that makes for a genuine and authentic death metal experience.

These days? Obituary's music is sanitized and devoid of the gut-wrenching compositions of the early days. From Stratocasters to Jacksons and from underground to mainstream. You can't stop evolution, but it's my opinion that Relapse Records has ruined this band… All due respect for our good ole boys here, but I'm waiting for just one of the Tampa DM bands to nut up and create a true fucking death metal album again. The aforementioned Massacre and Six Feet Under (believe it or not) are the only ones left who still value the olde way and mourn the Golden Age as they lament what the scene has become. Kam Lee and Chris Barnes are chastised for their scene view, and basically shit on for their old-school destroy posers mentality. But Cause Of Death? Shit, man, DM doesn't get any better. Even opuses like Morbid's "Altars of Madness" and Deicide's "Legion" pale in comparison.

Death metal for slow decay, despair and cold fucking PBR… Rednecks! The good kind  - the invite you in for a brew, some venison steak and a DM jam session type of Southerners. And even despite what their music has become as of late, we will ALWAYS root for these guys and give them the respect that they deserve. Obituary's first three records are the stuff of legend; standing so proudly apart from the rest and unflinching in their brutality. Burn 'em slowly was the name of the game, savor every dragging second of the kill and to Hell with all the mumbo-jumbo. Cause Of Death - the alpha in death metal recording and still just as relevant today as it ever has been. Here's to death the Tampa way. Here's to Obituary!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Death8699 on October 15, 2019.

Looking to hear some exploding, mind-boggling, ear-piercing, highly original and unable-to-top kind of death metal? Well, Cause of Death was created and reflects that kind of vibe within itself. It is traumatizing, especially the vocals by John Tardy - talk about the sound of death!!! Well, it's a great line up, especially with who's hitting the lead guitar work, but nonetheless the immortal James Murphy. Clocking in some brutal, distorted rhythm work with chords galore and speeds slow, but daunting, Trevor Peres is in charge. Donald Tardy hits behind the set with precision and mortification.

An album ahead of its time, a time when the Floridian death metal scene was reaching its highest. Obituary makes a mark in the scene so high and with utmost originality as well as a sort of "best 'of" compilation of songs that can only be replicated by the band. While to me it does sound like a compilation album, but really is a full-length brutal release that features guitar chords chunky and thick with an atmospheric death rattle to it. James Murphy raids the lead department and yet again sparks with utter intensity, featuring leads that are fully compliant on the fretboard the same way he hit "Spiritual Healing" by Death.

Musicianship is at its highest with John Tardy spewing forth death, gore, etc. type of lyrics, rhythms that are marked well with that intensity, leads fitting the atmosphere perfectly, and a production perfected by Scott Burns. He seemed to top death metal recorders in the production department at the time where these original sounding death metal bands were producing sounds that are so captivating and skull-wrenching. The overall aura on here was not only the vocals, rhythms, leads and drums, but the whole atmosphere featuring the most deathly sounding music ever put forth onto the scene.

Yes, they did have many competitors playing death metal, such as bands like Death, Pestilence, Cannibal Corpse, et al, and yet at that time they seemed to be among the great musicians playing this kind of metal. However, lyrical concepts are what they are on here and it suits the music. That thick, grinding, choppy, and tremolo-picked rhythms were well thought out and James Murphy rips out that talent that he bestowed on lead guitar. Such a great musician that has succumbed to the possibly life-threatening brain cancer the same way that Chuck Schuldiner did. Murphy seems to be in pretty bad shape nowadays and hopefully the Sweet Relief Foundation will find funds to save him.

Get the remastered edition of Cause of Death for it features bonus demo tracks and an augmented, atmospheric, and damn bloody good cast of musicians with one of the top producers at the time. The music, the band, the era, and the augmented scene of deathly dying of metal is depicted. This album to me remains among the top albums in the genre of death metal ever recorded. It is my view at least, having been into death metal for over 23 years. Trust me, I know as picky as I am with albums that this one is top notch. If you choose to own it, get it ASAP because of its utter brain-wrenching death metal that's ever been heard. Obituary's finest here on this recording.

Rating: 10 out of 10