January 6, 2024

Obituary – Galatos: January 5, 2024 (Concert Review)

Having survived the silly season, Simon Coffey got back in the saddle and checked out groundbreaking death-metal icons Obituary on their Barely Alive tour in Aotearoa, four years on from the last visit.

Obituary were there at the dawn, were part of the genesis, and remain 40 years later, titans in the death-metal genre. Formed, or rather rebranded, in 1984, with eleven albums to their name, and still with three original members, Obituary continues to set the standard in death metal in 2024.

Their debut 1989 album Slowly We Rot combined heaviness with speed, but also strategically slowed their music down, adding a dynamic that set them apart from their contemporaries, influencing them. 2005’s Frozen In Time, their first album after a brief hiatus between 1997 and 2003, saw them once again work with Scott Burns (who had also produced Dying of Everything) giving fans an anthem in the form of Redneck Stomp, and in 2023 Obituary released their ‘pandemic’ album Dying of Everything.

Utilize the Remains

Four-piece, Ōtepoti/Dunedin based (according to their Bandcamp page), Utilize the Remains released their debut album Psychotic Abyss late in 2023, a year which also saw the group feature personal changes, with Levi Sheehan from Organectomy take over guitar duties and James Vanner from Order of Diptera taking care of the drums.

The queue is long due to many waiting to score Obituary merch, so Utilize the Remains are already on stage when I get in. No strangers to Tamaki Makaurau, a faithful group of fans dominate the front. With twin guitars, Utilize the Remains are creating a wall of sludge death metal, vocalist Dan Ferguson is upfront and impassioned. Bassist Josh Clarkson’s five-string is impressive, as are his rhythms. Utiliize the Remains create an aural blast that fills the room, and most in the room are moving. Eventually, Dan encourages a small mosh pit and elicits rapturous applause as they end their last song. Worth the wait in the snaking queue outside.

Psycroptic

A stalwart of the Australian death metal scene for almost two decades, Hobart originators, Psycroptic have released eight albums and toured Europe several times. last here in 2018 as far as the grey matter remembers, they released their latest album Divine Council late in 2022.

Vocalist Jason Peppiatt engages with the crowd immediately, with a sense of urgency. It’s quickly apparent their touring and recording experience is embodied in the tightness, slick temp changes and technical delivery of their sound. Their previous visit(s) has garnered them a following that jam up at the stage front and revel in the aural imposition. High energy and pace dominate their set, as they also demand a mosh pit.

Their set features multiple songs from their latest album, but past songs from their extensive catalogue also get a look in. Their use of a soundtrack intro at the start and midway creates a vibe of a show not just a performance. Guitarist Joe Haley’s technical skills and melodies ensure that Psycroptic’s sound is intricately based around the rhythm section narrative, while the vocals are fitted precisely like a jigsaw piece tonight, a hat tip to the sound tech is richly deserved tonight.

Obituary

Obituary announces their arrival by playing the vocals-less Redneck Stomp, as much for their sound tech to fine-tune the sound, as to warm up the crowd before the applauded arrival of singer John Tardy on stage.

John is welcoming on his arrival, as Obituary quickly launches into Sentence Day, the first of two from their highly praised 2017 album Obituary. Already apparent is the intensity and fluidity of the band’s performance, their twin guitars’ scything attack and John Tardy’s twin singing style, are raised high by the drummer and bassist creating half-times, and off-kilter circadian rhythms.

Wrong Time and Barely Alive introduces 2023’s Dying of Everything. While Barely Alive is classic Obituary death-metal, Wrong Time has a melodic march, massive hooks and leads throughout it, if Obituary could be said to have a gentler side, Wrong Time represents it. It’s a killer song live! Throughout the rest of the set, Obituary mainly draws on Dying of Everything, which is to be expected as it is their latest album, but they also dig deep into their past and sate their fans’ lust for past glories.

John Tardy’s band mates Donald Tardy, Trevor Peres, Terry Butler and Kenny Andrews create a swirling death-metal swirl, pulling no punches for the moshing faithful. Contrasting, it feels like John Tardy’s vocals are a little less of the visceral growl and more well tuneful. Purist may stutter, but given the ferociousness of his bandmates playing, and the increasing quantity of rhythms appropriated by the band, the duality is refreshing. Then again, he could just be jet-lagged as fuck!

As the evening comes to a close, Chopped in Half scythes through the room, in its off-kilter drumming and transforms into Turned Inside Out, but as finality hits, Obituary pulls one last undead from the pit, Slowly We Rot from their 1989 debut album, it’s array of rapid verse and slow pace and genre setting sound states the traditionalist in the audience and creates one last mosh-pit in the room.

Simon Coffey

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