Obituary were one of the original "Death Metal" bands and their 1989 debut "Slowly We Rot" is rightly hailed as a groundbreaking classic in the genre. The release of "Frozen In Time" is really a comeback of sorts as the bands last release was a live album in 1998.

There seems to a be resurgence in popularity for all manner of classic 80's metal and the thrashier end of the spectrum is receiving a lot of welcome attention due to recent returns to form by the likes of Exodus (or should I say the Gary Holt solo project?!?) and Kreator. Anthrax too would have been included in this but they have decided to reconvene their classic line up despite delivering some of their strongest material on 2003's "We've Come For You All".

Anyway onto Obituary, and throughout 'Frozen In Time' there is little or no great variation from the bands earlier work with the majority of the music being characterized by John Tardy's vocal style and the ultra-heavy riffing of Allan West and Trevor Peres and there, for me, lies the main problem.

After the instrumental opener "Redneck Stomp" which is a great grinding mid-tempo tune, the majority of the remainder of the album follows the same formula as the bulk of the bands earlier material, i.e. slow dirge-like riffing sometimes shifting to mid-tempo chugging riffs with Tardy screaming over the top. Occasionally there is a break from this formula, "Stand Alone" and "Lockjaw" having faster tempos and being all the better for it, but in the main there is too much of the same for me to rate it too highly. However fans of Obituary will doubtless lap this up as its clearly a case of "if it ain't broke why fix it" and the band can't be criticised for staying true to a genre they were instrumental in creating.

Let us know your views on 'Frozen In Time'

Track List

Redneck Stomp
On The Floor
Insane
Blindsided
Back Inside
Mindset
Stand Alone
Slow Death
Denied
Lockjaw

Line  Up

John Tardy - Vocals
Allen West - Lead Guitar
Trevor Peres - Rhythm Guitar
Frank Watkins - Bass
Donald Tardy - Drums