Obituary

Obituary
Background information
AKA	Executioner, Xecutioner
Origin	Tampa, Florida, United States
Genres	Death metal
Years active	1984-1986 (as Executioner) 1986-1988 (as Xecutioner) 1988-1997, 2003-present
Labels	Roadrunner, Candlelight, Relapse
Associated acts	Six Feet Under, Death, Deicide, Massacre, Denial Fiend, Tardy Brothers
Website	www.obituary.cc
Members
John Tardy Trevor Peres Donald Tardy Terry Butler Kenny Andrews
Past members
Members

Obituary is a band formed in 1985 in Tampa, Florida under the name Xecutioner and later renamed to Obituary. The band comprises vocalist John Tardy, drummer Donald Tardy, guitarists Trevor Peres and Ralph Santolla and bassist Frank Watkins. The band is a fundamental act in the development of death metal music and one of the most successful bands in its genre.

History

Obituary is one of the pioneering bands of the death metal genre. Founded as Xecutioner in Seffner, Florida during 1985. At the time the band was composed of John Tardy (vocals), Allen West (lead guitar), Trevor Peres (guitar), Jerome Grable (bass) & Donald Tardy (drums). They made their vinyl debut in 1987 with two tracks (Find The Arise & Like The Dead) on the Raging Death compilation. Not long after its release Grable was replaced with bassist Daniel Tucker. Shortly before the release of its first album the following year, "Slowly We Rot", they changed their name to Obituary. The band still remains an influential band of the Florida death metal movement that arose in the late 1980s. The 1990 release Cause of Death has been described as a seminal album in the genre, and vocalist John Tardy is recognized as one of the first vocalists to use abnormally low growl (compared to the screechy growls used by predecessors Death and Possessed). Obituary is listed by Nielsen Soundscan as the fifth best-selling death metal band of all time and its albums have sold 368,184 copies; their 1992 release The End Complete has sold more than 103,378 copies in the United States alone.

After 1997's Back from the Dead album, the band had grown tired of touring, which led to the band disbanding. During the hiatus, Donald Tardy played in Andrew W.K.'s touring band (during W.K.'s appearance on Saturday Night Live Tardy wore an Obituary shirt). Allen West focused on his two projects, Lowbrow and Six Feet Under while not playing in Obituary. Trevor Peres formed Catastrophic in 2001, which released one album, The Cleansing, in that same year. Obituary reformed in 2003 and Catastrophic continued to exist alongside the reformed Obituary. A reunion album, Frozen in Time, was released in 2005. The band's first live DVD, Frozen Alive, was released in January 2007.

Obituary was signed with Candlelight Records for its next two albums, Xecutioner's Return (2007) and Darkest Day (2009), as well as the EP Left to Die (2008). A concert DVD release was also announced for January 2010. In April 2010, Obituary began work on new material for their ninth studio album Inked in Blood, which was released in October 2014. It is the first Obituary album not to be recorded with longtime bassist Frank Watkins since their 1989 debut album Slowly We Rot as well as the band's first release on Relapse Records.

Since 2012, the band have been highly involved with the promotion of a new social networking site called Unation, as well as Donald Tardy beginning a Cat Sanctuary organization called Metal Meowlisha, an organization practicing “trap-neuter-vaccinate-return”, and caring for 25 cat colonies (200 cats). In 2013, the band rebuilt their studio, and continued work on the new album, with Tardy claiming that the band's progress in the studio will be documented on the new website.

On Friday, August 2, 2013, the band launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $10,000.00; the money raised was promised to allow Obituary to record and release their ninth album independently. The goal was met in on August 3, and is still climbing. Obituary has claimed that if the amount of money earned through the campaign extends to 20,000 dollars, the band will release a 4-part documentary style video filmed at the legendary Morrisound Recording Studios in Tampa, Florida. Morrisound is credited with the popularization of heavy metal, and its subgenre death metal. The band Obituary recorded their most popular, and still most loved albums of their career at Morrisound. The Kickstarter "Morrisound Experience" documentary is said to be shot over three days in which the band revisited their roots, and will include sets from "Slowly We Rot," "Cause of Death" and "The End Complete."

When interviewed by metal webzine All About The Rock, John Tardy said of the Kickstarter campaign, "This campaign has been awesome and just confirms again what we already know and that is that we have the greatest fans in the world. We are using Kickstarter to raise enough money to release an album on our own. This is not a bash against record companies, it is just what we want to do. Years ago this would not even be a thought, but today we feel everything is in place for us, for better or worse, give it a shot.".

Members

Current members

• Donald Tardy - drums (1988-1997, 2003-present)
• Trevor Peres - rhythm guitar (1988-1997, 2003-present)
• John Tardy - vocals (1988-1997, 2003-present)
• Terry Butler - bass (2010-present)
• Kenny Andrews - lead guitar (2012-present)

Former members

• Daniel Tucker - bass (1988-1989)
• Allen West - lead guitar (1988-1989, 1992-1997, 2003-2006)
• Frank Watkins - bass (1989-1997, 2003-2010)
• James Murphy - lead guitar (1990)
• Ralph Santolla - lead guitar (2007-2011)

Discography

Studio albums

• Slowly We Rot (1989)
• Cause of Death (1990)
• The End Complete (1992)
• World Demise (1994)
• Back from the Dead (1997)
• Frozen in Time (2005)
• Xecutioner's Return (2007)
• Darkest Day (2009)
• Inked in Blood (2014)

Live albums

• Dead (1998)

Compilation albums

• Anthology (2001)
• The Best of Obituary (2008)

EPs

• Don't Care (1994)
• Left to Die (2008)

Video albums

• Frozen Alive (2006)
• Live Xecution in Bad Berka 2008 (2009)

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook page
• Official Bandcamp