Amon Amarth - The Great Heathen Tour with Special Guests

Often considered one of grindcore's founding fathers, Carcass were among the first bands of the extreme metal genre to try a different lyrical approach -- one that reflected a fascination with surgical gadgets and peculiar words straight out of a med student's textbook.Hailing from the same locale that spawned the Fab Four -- in case you've lived under a rock for the past few decades, Liverpool -- Carcass were originally formed in 1985 by singer/guitarist Bill Steer (who would later play with Napalm Death) and drummer Ken Owen. By 1987, singer/bassist Jeff Walker had signed on with the band, resulting in a deal with Earache Records shortly after. The trio then issued a pair of full-lengths that are often considered classics of the grindcore genre, 1988's Reek of Putrefaction and 1989's Symphonies of Sickness. 

Shortly after the dawn of the '90s, Carcass expanded to a quartet, as Michael Amott signed on as second guitarist, resulting in two more favorites of the metal underground, 1991's Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious and 1992's four-song EP Tools of the Trade. Whereas he once sang in a growling voice à la a dragon desperately in need of some Pepto-Bismol, Walker adopted a slightly more traditional metal singing style, while the band was no longer afraid to let Iron Maiden-esque guitar work enter the mix. The result was the group's major-label debut for Sony, 1994's Heartwork. Although Heartwork is probably Carcass' best-known album, fan reaction is often split evenly between those who feel the group had sold out with a more easily digestible sound (quite comparable to thrash metal) and those who feel that it's one of the '90s great metal releases. 

Either way, Amott left the group around this time, and was replaced by Carlo Regadas for Carcass' final studio album, 1996's appropriately titled Swansong. The same year, a compilation of rarities was issued, Wake Up and Smell the Carcass. Subsequently, Owen, Walker, and Regadas continued working together for a spell under the Blackstar name; Amott formed both Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy; and Steer surprisingly formed a blues-rock power trio, Firebird. 

The band re-formed in 2007 as a live act, with Walker, Steer, and Amott tapping Arch Enemy drummer Daniel Erlandsson to man the kit, though there was no talk of heading back into the studio. Amott and Erlandsson left in 2012 to focus on Arch Enemy, and Steer and Walker, along with drummer Dan Wilding, surprised everyone with the announcement of a new album. The resulting Surgical Steel, which was released independently, arrived in September 2013. ~ Greg Prato

“We’re doing what we’re having a good time doing. And if we don’t have a good time doing it, we’ll find something else to do.”

So bespoke Obituary drummer Donald Tardy in a 2023 interview with Invisible Oranges, echoing the sentiments of his brother and Obituary vocalist, John Tardy. The quote perfectly captures Obituary: At its core, being in Obituary is fun. John, Donald, alongside co-founding rhythm guitarist Trevor Peres and crucial late-career additions Terry Butler (bass) and Kenny Andrews (lead guitar), have forged a 40-year career doing what they love, which is playing death metal. It is as simple as that. The band doesn’t chase accolades or social media adulation. And Obituary truly doesn’t care about the latest trends. Instead, across 11 studio albums and countless live shows, Obituary has steadfastly stuck to its guns by playing some of the heaviest music known to man, accumulating a loyal fanbase across the world.

Obituary launched in 1984 as Executioner. Influenced by local Tampa, Florida heroes Nasty Savage and Savatage, as well as then-nascent thrashers Metallica and Slayer, Executioner honed their craft via a dedicated practice routine in the Tardys garage, which was soon brought to live stages. While some of the members of Executioner were well below the drinking age, their live shows — complete with drum risers, smoke bombs and urns — displayed an already mature unit that understood the value of presentation.

The band (also featuring lead guitarist Jerry Tidwell and bassist Jerome Grable) trekked later in 1984 to Tampa’s famed Morrisound Recording to track its thrash-inspired two-song Metal Up Your Ass debut demo. Shortly after that, two moments occurred that would forever change the band’s career: Peres discovered Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, helping him shape his guitar tone, and John Tardy discovered his iconic death metal voice. Combined with Donald Tardy’s innate rhythmic ability and new lead guitarist Allen West’s solos, Obituary had forged its sound.

After catching wind of another outfit named “Executioner,” a name change to “Xecutioner” was in order. It was followed by the band’s inclusion in the pivotal 1987 Raging Death compilation. Word quickly circulated through the metal underground of Xecutioner’s unrestrained heaviness, particularly John Tardy’s vocals. For many, it was unlike anything they’d ever heard. Now armed with eight songs, new bassist Daniel Tucker and eying an eventual record deal, Xecutioner re-entered Morrisound Recording with producer/engineer Rick Miller to track their Slowly We Rot debut in 1988. However, an accident forced Miller to leave the sessions, putting Xecutioner in the hands of the fledgling producer/engineer Scott Burns, who quickly bonded with the members of the band.

A deal with Dutch label Roadrunner Records was signed in late 1988 that coincided with a name change to Obituary. Slowly We Rot was unleashed upon unsuspecting ears in May 1989. The sheer brutality of it all — from Peres and West’s subterranean riffs to John Tardy’s rabid, indecipherable bellows — was an immediate revelation in death metal circles. Never before had a band sounded this extreme while having the songs to back it all up. Flanked by promotional shots that obscured the band’s faces (courtesy of a back-alley photo shoot in Ybor City by Tampa scene photographer Tim Hubbard), Obituary quickly became one of the most talked-about names in the death metal underground, with fans and journalists alike taking their turns trying to decipher John Tardy’s lyrics (he never used a lyric sheet) while trying to put a face to the band. (Obituary’s live appearances were limited at this time.) The impact of Slowly We Rot is immeasurable; it remains a standard-bearer for extremity and one of death metal’s most impactful debuts.

Cause of Death arrived a year later, this time with James Murphy stepping in for Allen West in the lead guitar spot and Frank Watkins assuming the bass position for Daniel Tucker. While Murphy’s classically inspired solos added a new dimension to Obituary’s sound, Peres and Donald Tardy carried nearly the full songwriting load, assembling a batch of cuts that would remain live set mainstays, “Chopped in Half,” “Dying” and “Turned Inside Out.” Obituary’s first U.S. tour followed the release of Cause of Death, including an appearance on the legendary “S.O.S.” bill alongside headliners Sepultura and opening act Sadus.

Behind the momentum of Cause of Death, Obituary’s third studio album, The End Complete, arrived two years later. Once again partnering with Scott Burns and West returning to his lead guitar spot, The End Complete’s raw and natural production values highlighted songs that were now fully enmeshed in groove, as signified by the opening cut “I’m in Pain” as well as the title track, which also received music video treatment and heavy rotation on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. The album eventually reached 150,000 units in sales, making it one of the highest-selling death metal albums of all time.

Obituary’s fourth studio album, 1994’s World Demise, arrived at a time when death metal became oversaturated and outfits such as Machine Head, Pantera and Sepultura ruled the day. Obituary, however, used it as an opportunity to diversify its sound. Peres, Donald Tardy and Morrisound Recording engineer “Super” Brian Benscoter incorporated a myriad of industrial effects to add a new angle to Obituary. Combined with John Tardy’s harsh lyrical take on corporations plundering the world for their greed, World Demise stands alone as Obituary’s most adventurous album.

With Burns approaching retirement from studio work, Obituary tapped Madball producer Jamie Locke for Back from the Dead, the band’s fifth studio album. Recorded at Miami’s legendary Criteria Studios, Back from the Dead housed some of the band’s most groove-oriented material, such as “By the Light,” “Download” and “Lockdown.”  

In 1998, the members of Obituary decided to take a much-deserved break to focus on their families and other projects. Peres started Catastrophic and released The Cleansing studio album in 2001. Donald Tardy joined over-the-top rocker Andrew W.K.’s band, whose major label debut, I Get Wet, spawned several hit singles, affording Donald the opportunity to perform on Saturday Night Live as well as the 2002 installment of Ozzfest, where an impromptu reunion with Donald, John and Trevor set the stage for the band’s 2003 reactivation.  

Obituary’s first album in eight years, Frozen in Time, arrived in 2005, followed by a switch in record companies to Candlelight Records and the addition of new lead guitarist Ralph Santolla in 2007. The changes signified a new era for Obituary, prompting the Xecutioner’s Return album title for the band’s sixth studio effort. The album also marked another drastic change for Obituary: The band built its own studio with a Pro Tools rig on John Tardy’s property, enabling them to record at all hours of the day. The process helped shape the band’s next album, Darkest Day, which arrived two years later and highlighted Santolla’s elaborate, Michael Schenker-inspired guitar solos.

Bassist Terry Butler (formerly of Death, Massacre and Six Feet Under) joined Obituary in 2010, a long overdue event considering he has been one of the band’s closest friends since their formation. And Santolla (who passed away in 2018) was replaced by Andrew W.K. guitar tech Kenny Andrews in 2012, stabilizing Obituary’s lineup. Behind a crowdfunding effort and a new deal with Relapse Records, Inked in Blood was released in 2014. It was immediately hailed by fans and critics as one of Obituary’s finest efforts in years, propelled by a heavy touring cycle.

Simply titled Obituary, the band’s tenth studio album was released during a death metal renaissance. A new wave of fans started to discover bands like Obituary, while old standbys were reminded of the band’s greatness through cuts like “Brave” and “Sentence Day.” A marquee spot on Slayer’s European tour ensued, where the sound of Peres’s ungodly guitar tone melted arenas across the continent.

The 2020 Covid pandemic took Obituary and their peers off the road. The band made the most of its downtime with a series of livestreams that gave fans the opportunity to hear classic albums in full and deep cuts that are rarely performed live. Along the way, Obituary kept writing new material, culminating with Dying of Everything, which, once again, was recorded at the band’s own RedNeck Studios in Gibsonton, Florida and produced and mixed by Joe Cincotta, with engineering credits yet again falling to Mark Prator, a longtime friend of the band.

Dying of Everything, as one would surmise, is everything one would expect from Obituary. From the thrashy “Barely Alive” to the all-out stomp of “The Wrong Time” and the innate groove of “My Will to Live,” Dying of Everything is Obituary at its finest, fitting for a band that has defied age, expectations and shifting musical tastes.

Obituary is built upon brotherhood, friendship and music—three unbreakable bonds. From the garages of Brandon, Florida, to the big festival stages of Europe and beyond, Obituary has never lost sight of what matters: a prime recipe for longevity.   

“I love the idea of creating music for people that are not in my town or not even in my state or country, that is not just waiting for us but rooting us on,” Donald told me in 2023. “It's bigger than us. Obituary is part of people's lives.”

Though many bands have tried, no one articulates the real apocalypse humanity is facing as vividly and succinctly as Cattle Decapitation. With 2019’s Death Atlas they reached the apex of this, perhaps leading some to believe they had no place left to go beyond such an achievement, but now they return with Terrasite, which is as bold a statement as they have ever made. “After a record like Death Atlas you have to make a turn,” states guitarist Josh Elmore. “Everything about that album - the concept, artwork, music, etc, was a final statement. The only way to move forward is rebirth. In approaching the newest record it was not only necessary to keep the musical trajectory the band has been aiming towards since the beginning, but also to further explore the ambient/textural elements that were part of Death Atlas.” As such, Terrasite pushes their sound further into more epic and varied territory, and in the hands of vocalist Travis Ryan the governing concept takes a new and disturbing direction. “I wanted to do the 180° opposite of Death Atlas. I already had the concept idea from years back and since Death Atlas was so dark and brooding, I wanted a completely opposite effect - I wanted this to take place in the daylight. I’ve always found daytime horror to be really unsettling so I wanted to make sure what was going on on the cover took place in the light of day, which also finds its place within the lyrics.”

Written both separately and during sessions together in San Diego - which required certain members to regularly fly into the city - the record came together naturally, though not without personal struggle. Every member of their current lineup - Elmore, Ryan, guitarist Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard and drummer David McGraw - has grown to fill their musical niche in the band, and learned how to get the best out of each other, making for their most accomplished work to date. Roaring to life with the savage yet hauntingly melodic “Terrasitic Adaptation” and advancing through the likes of the relentless “We Eat Our Young” and culminating with the ten-plus minutes of “Just Another Body”, it is an album that constantly shifts dynamics, and demands a variety of emotional responses. “All the Cattle hallmarks are there; ripping blasts, abrasive and aggressive guitar/bass riffs and Travis’s varied vocal approach; but this record just feels different. I don’t know how else to put it. There is a deep richness to the guitar tones and a more prominent bass guitar presence, the drums parts are assaultive, but tasteful and Travis’ vocals are as varied as they’ve ever been but with an added emotional depth. The whole record sounds like a somber panic attack; like mourning the loss of a loved one at Mach 3,” says Elmore. “The trademark Cattle intensity is always there, but this time at paces that range from frantic to controlled and driving but with more focus on menacing heaviness. The ambient and effect-laden guitar presence also takes up a much larger part of the whole experience.”

The title is a word invented by Ryan that brings together ‘Terra-’ meaning earth and ‘-site’ derived from the Greek word ‘-sitos’ which means ‘food’. “The combination of the two meaning ‘earth-eater’, as a metaphor for humanity’s role in the destruction of the planet, and is a play-on-words of the very fitting word ‘parasite’.” This is vividly brought to life in the artwork by longtime collaborator Wes Benscoter. “We see the nymph stage of this human/cockroach hybrid that is more of a fully grown being that has just molted from its ootheca stage, startled, confused, frightened but also pissed off and ready to join the rest of its brood in finishing humanity’s job of destroying the Earth.” When asked where he is coming from lyrically on this record, Ryan frankly states “from a place of distress. Anger, rage, resentment, depression, anxiety, a poor outlook on our species both on a day-to-day level, a broader, worldly level as well as a philosophical level.” For example, the lyrics of “A Photic Doom” “are more of just a metaphor for being alone in your head and turning away from the life that is exposed by the light of day. Shaking your fist at the sun for exposing this place to us. For uncovering the depravity of our species and casting light onto subjects rather than letting them rest in the darkness”. Then there is “Scourge Of The Offspring” which “makes up the bulk of the album’s concept that the first song “Terrasitic Adaptation” and the cover art sort of set into motion. In the first song we find out what's going on on the cover, and this song deals more with what our children will end up being - adult humans, shat out and left to make sense of this world only to end up being part of the problem simply by existing.”

The band once again worked with producer Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Allegaeon), who knows the members’ individual styles and how to coax the best out of them, bringing in Tony Parker of Midnight Odyssey to handle piano and synths. Just prior to joining his bandmates, and with some lyrics yet to be written, Ryan received some tragic news, with friend and Cattle Decapitation co-founder Gabe Serbian taking his own life. “The news and all the pressure going into the album spun my head completely around and out of control. While not being able to properly grieve the loss of Gabe - a friend who meant so much to us and was attached to an incredibly large network of friends that begins locally and stretches across the globe, my mind went into an incredibly dark place and then within a couple weeks of being there we learned that our friend Trevor Strnad (The Black Dahlia Murder) had taken his life as well. It just felt like things were unraveling for so many of our friends whom we consider family, having lost a couple friends after two years of everyone trying to get through the pandemic and navigate through this to come out on the other end with everything still together.” All of this informed the lyrics to the epic closer “Just Another Body”, Ryan stating “all these months later, after many listens, it still has a shroud around it that will never disappear. It was written during some of the hardest moments in this band’s career.” 

With the record finally realized, and dedicated to Serbian’s memory, the band are looking ahead to touring, promising sets rich with Terrasite songs as well as some tracks people have not heard live in years. They are also understandably proud to still be going strong after two and a half decades, and to have stayed relevant. “We are one of the few bands that have never rested on our laurels and keep pushing ourselves to improve. At this stage of our careers we could easily be trying to rewrite Monolith Of Inhumanity (2012) over and over, but since we did not and have never settled that way, the end results were The Anthropocene Extinction (2015), Death Atlas (2019) and now Terrasite, which have pushed us further into more mature and experimental territory,” says Elmore. “I just feel with the way things change so drastically nowadays, especially the last three or four years, that it’s surprising an extreme metal band can not only be around for so damn long but still stay anchored in this constantly changing scene that’s dictated where it’s going to go by younger generations - and still maintain relevance,” adds Ryan. “Our band truly is an anomaly. I’d prefer to keep it that way.”