Search - Obituary :: Xecutioner's Return

Can't put this album down

Abomination to god | Folsom | 08/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Obituary is possibly my favorite deah metal band and now they return with this album that can be placed among the best in Obituary's catalog. The songs are as brutal than aways and the production actally sounds more crisp. Ralph Santolla and Trevor Peres are a great guitar duo and have some brutal riffs and great solos. Donald Tardy double bass seems to get faster and better every time I listen to them. James Tardy is such a phenomenol death metal vocalist, which makes you wonder how can he do that type of growl. Frank Watkins bass actually sounds better this time. So far I can't be able to find my favorite track because they all sound good. If you are into death metal(or metal at all) get this album now."

The Return Of Classic Death Metal!

Joel Israel | Cedar City, UT United States | 09/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Obituary was one of the originators of death metal as a style, and have returned due to the recent resurgence in metal's popularity to release two albums....2005's "Frozen In Time", and the new release "Xecutioner's Return" (a nice nod to fans of the band).



Although I enjoyed both, "Xecutioner's" is definately the better of the two, primarily due to the addition of Ralph Santolla's well-phrased and shred-happy soloing style, and simply the fact that this disc features better riffs, more variety and experimentation, and slightly better production. Of course, part of the appeal of this band (for me, anyway) is the dry, "old-school" metal production, but "Frozen" just seemed muddy, to me. For the older fans, the vocals are great, the low-end bottom heavy riffs are there in spades, but the addition of a bajillion solos will either help or hinder your enjoyment of this disc; as the older Obituary albums actually sound quite a bit different compared to this....there must be about 40 or so solos on this disc, and they are not the spastic, "Slayer-esque" variety, but very over-the top, in control, and flashy, which makes this sound much different than Obit's older discs. For me, that's awesome! For some die-hards, maybe not."

The band that just keeps returning again and again

Zander Haberstaft | Miami, Florida | 09/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After a judge threw the book at former Obituary guitarist and prime soloist Allen West and sent him prison, one would have thought Obituary might have to put the idea of a new album on hold for awhile. Not so. In fact they continued on with new material just two years after the excellent 2005 release "Frozen in Time". Just by the title I thought when I picked this up that Obituary was trying to capture their demo days back when they were actually called Xecutioner. (Tired of being confused with Boston thrash metalists Executioner, they changed their name to Obituary.) This new offering does bring back a lot of memories of those "Xecutioner" demo tapes. There still is the slow-sludgy-classic Obituary sound, but there are sections that are quite a bit faster. It's good to see Obituary is not afraid to highlight hardcore, Thrash, punk and crossover's influence on Death Metal.



John Tardy's voice is in top form and has changed little over the years -if at all. The growl that can't be imitated is part and parcel the driving force of much of the record. Trevor Peres still hands out heavy low end riff after riff. The drumming, which has always been simple yet elegant in its own way on every Obituary record, is executed with much more precision than ever before. Some of the drum lines on "Lasting Presence" and "Second Chance" are pretty cool even if they only last for a few moments. If you like Obituary, then you'll probably like this album since the band has nothing to change in their solid-as-a-rock-Floridian-Death Metal formula. Their approach only seems to sharpen over time. The only noticeable difference between this and prior Obituary albums is the guitar stylings of Ralph Santolla. His style is markedly different than Allen West. The pace is less frenetic and space is more utilized in his playing as opposed to West's style.



The only problem I have with this album is the production. Some parts of it sound less than ideally mixed. Even though it was mastered by Jim Morris at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, it wasn't recorded there and Scott Burns had little or nothing to do with this record. Scott Burns is a top notch engineer and differences in recording quality between "Frozen and Time" might not be obvious to everyone, but in the finer details of the recording (the mid-range) it does bring this album down a notch. Otherwise, a fine album and reccommended to those who like their Death Metal, American, straight forward, and heavy as all hell."