It's 1998 and Obituary is "Back From The Dead"... Not to say that Obituary was ever dead. After being in a hiatus for almost three years, the world's heaviest band lashes out with yet another classic death metal album.

Obituary have been stalwarts in the death metal scene since their first album, Slowly We Rot, was released in 1989. They solidified their status in the genre with three more albums - 1990s Cause Of Death, 1992s The End Complete, and 1994s World Demise. Few have survived this style of music that has almost no commercial radio support and survives by the passion encrusted in their seedy fans. Unlike other death metal bands, Obituary avoid the Satanic and religious imagery and keep it spooky and gruesome. On, Back From The Dead, Obituary continue to carry the torch of death metal into the unpromised land. They are still the world's heaviest band. This record shall stand as testament. The album can be best described to any Obituary fan as a flash back to their earlier days. Defined by Allen West's and Trevor Peres' grinding guitars and the incredibly guttural vocals of John Tardy, Back From The Dead offers the death metal world eleven of the most aggressive and brutal songs written by Obituary to date. Record number five isn't a rehash of the first, but rather a foray into the future of death metal. A new studio (Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, FL) and a different producer (Jamie Locke) allowed the band to feel that they were progressing as a musical outfit. While many other bands try to follow new trends, Obituary continue to expand on the realm of the genre while breaking down preconceived boundaries.

The key to Obituary's success is their marriage of catchy metal riffs and crunchy multi-tempo chord changes. Others have a tendency to obsess on the breakneck speed and hammer-ons only to find it all getting buried in one homogenous mess, but not Obituary. "It's a heavy record but still has riffs you can hum" explains Trevor of the new album. A fact that sheds light on the band's European success, where they have been in Billboard's Top 40 both in Germany and Finland. But stateside, the fans aren't as numerous yet. "All those college kids," quips Trevor, "that go see a band like No Doubt and thrash about in a pit, need to go see Obituary." Indeed they do, because another formula to their long-standing success is their live show. But how does one bottle all that energy? Trevor sheds some light on their secret. "You really need a lot of stamina to play this style of music. I mean you have to practice a lot just to keep in shape."

Today's musicians, says Trevor, make fashionable music and this disgusts him. The band was toying with the idea of just having a generic white cover but this would "upset a lot of the fans who really dig our album artwork." So in keeping with that, the cover you have in your hands was drawn by acclaimed artist Berni Wrightson who is responsible for giving birth to the classic creep Swamp Thing.

From the slow grind of the title track "Back From The Dead" to the maddening riffage of "Platonic Disease," you'll find that the band is anything but dead and far from penning their own obituary. The band will be blowing up concert halls and festival stages around the world in the next year. By year's end, they'll be in plenty good shape. So, while many other metal bands try to follow new trends, Obituary continues to lead the scene as one of the forefathers and creators of death metal.