Obituary - Xecutioner's Return review
| Band: | Obituary |
| Album: | Xecutioner's Return |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | August 2007 |
01. Face Your God
02. Lasting Presence
03. Evil Ways
04. Drop Dead
05. Bloodshot
06. Seal Your Fate
07. Feel The Pain
08. Contrast The Dead
09. Second Chance
10. Lies
11. In Your Head
12. Executioner Returns [boxset bonus]
People had already lost their interest on one of the most courageous bands in Death Metal history... Obituary, then 15 years later "Frozen In Time" came up and people again turned their heads while leaving towards the sunset, the band gave us something to praise about, something that made us sit and listen while waiting for something insanely spectacular to come; now it's "Xecutioner's Return" what sweeps us back to the old school days where Death Metal was fearless and utterly powerful, the record is everything we hoped since 1992 and I still can't believe my ears.
On most parts this album definately makes it up for every single piece Obituary released after "Cause Of Death", on the other segments the band delivers a modern side of their metal assault, the catchy riffs and streched atmospheres show an interesting and original ensemble breaking and crushing some bones with a very aggressive touch in their mix. So yes, it's all about old school, but it still manages to kill and slaughter the contemporary bands of today?it's just fucking perfect that's what it is.
Now let's just jump to the inconfortable side of things, Allen West. We are all crying about his departure that's for sure, he was an incredible guitarist, he carried with the Obituary name for a really long time?now Ralph Santolla came here to make things better, it seems everything he touches turns to gold (Remember what he did with the last Deicide album¨?) all his solos are face-melters, it's just an incredible piece of work what we hear inside this record, too bad the overall sound feels like canned, the production didn't break my neck but it's something that adds an "oldies but goldies" vibe in the CD.
"Xecutioner's Return" makes me wonder if we're not in 1992, it's just that good, it even has that old sense of balance, while some tracks like "Evil Ways" (Which is the best Obituary song I've heard EVER) creates a lot of tension with its brutality, "In Your Head" will melow things down a notch in a very "Slowly We Rot" way. The collection of riffs in this disc is more than memorable, the band delivers wave after wave of killer structures and the most catchy scales the band has put out to date.
2007 has been a really bland year in Death Metal, so it's maybe not that much to say this is the best death metal album this year; though one thing is for sure, whether be 2007 or 1989 this is by far the best [b]Obituary[b/] record in Metal history; sit tight and wait until it gets released, you're in for one hell of a blast from the past.
Best Tracks: "Evil Ways", "Feel The Pain", "Drop Dead"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Herzebeth | 14.08.2007
Comments
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Comments: 36
Visited by: 186 users
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| kackbratze Posts: 234  |
Wow, your rating surprises me. I have listened to the full album one time and I really liked it. But I didn't find anything that makes it so much better than the other Obituary albums in this first listen. You sure evoked much interest to listen to it some more. Something that I noticed immediately is that the bass is VERY loud in the mix, imho too loud. I liked the sawing guitar sound with not so loud bass better...
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| Herzebeth Posts: 5537  |
Written by kackbratze on 14.08.2007 at 21:18 yes I agree with you...the production is a downer in a non so cool way of things, though it grew on me over time.
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| Joey Jo Jo Piece of shit Posts: 2262  |
I'll be seeing them live next month. I can't wait to hear these new songs performed live. 
---- "If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girl friends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys." - Orson Welles
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| lordz IzZo Posts: 406  |
I cant wait till I get my hands on this one... and I hope its as good as you say it is Herzebeth ... we dont need another dissappointment like NILE  John Tardy's voice is one of the best in the scene and he never lets you down thats one thing for sure.
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| Deadsoulman Elite Posts: 8004  |
Wow, it's like I'm listening to Cause Of Death for the first time again! Now that's what I call old school  Amazing album...
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| Herzebeth Posts: 5537 |
PLEASE!!! it's a great album sure..but PLEASE don't set your expectations ultra super high because when that stuff happens people just expects godlike things and when they receive an incredibly amazing album they end up being dissapointed.
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| Galar Wicked Mung Posts: 598  |
AWESOME album. so old-school!
---- YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID, SUCK A DICK
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| graywolf87 Account deleted |
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| Thryce Retired Staff Elite Posts: 4346  |
It is indeed an amazing album. Also a great and accurate review. This album has finally reached the same DM level of Slowly We Rot and Cause Of Death. Also for me the best 2007 Death Metal album (still, so far, but a lot will have to happen to top this album...)
---- Your favorite band sucks.
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| -MeTaLlIc-OwL- Account deleted |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Okay, all in all this is very decent release but is just about 15 years late. They should have released this sort of stuff in 1992 instead of The End Complete and everything after. Now it is just way too dated and totally nopt original by their own standards. Giving this album its proper place in history I would rate with just a 7 overall. Had it been released in 1992 it would certainly have deserved a 9, but alas, we're 15 years on.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by [user id=5394] on 21.08.2007 at 18:15 For me the overall quality impression does decrease because it doesn't bring anything new at all although its execution is alright. Rating it I would say: performance 9 songwriting 8 originality 7 production 6 overall 7
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Herzebeth Posts: 5537 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 21.08.2007 at 18:27 OH MY GOD!!! 
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| graywolf87 Account deleted |
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| DOOOMKULTUS Posts: 1  |
@ Marcel Hubregtse Your point seems to be that its nothing new,LOL at you man. Considering the stuff one gets nowadays this fucking thing is revolutionary for its time. As the saying goes "You have now lost to right to your own opinion" Metal Fucking Foreverrrrr \m/
---- | Got ist Tott |
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262  |
Ralph Santolla is the man. That guy should just go from band to band to help everyone out. I don't think this sounds THAT much like their older albums. The guitar solos definitely aren't the same style as they were on their first two albums, and Cause of Death seemed to be mostly filled with instrumentals, just not of the shredding variety. Another thing I want to point out is that Tardy's vox sound much better than they do on Frozen in Time. After hearing new Malevolent Creation and Obituary, 2007 doesn't seem that bad
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OminousDeath
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Personally i thought the album was great, A great return for obituary 
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
I can't, for the life of me, understand what's so good about Obituary. I've listened to this album many times before under different names, and sometimes done better. Agreed about Evil Ways, but this not, definitely NOT the best Death Metal album this year. 6/10
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| CrimsonSoaked Account deleted |
CrimsonSoaked
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I've listened album twice thru and i'lld say that it really puts Obituary back to it's golden days of youth. Cause of Death is simply the best album , because of Alan West. Xecutioner's Return , Ill'd say , holds tie with The End Complete , which still had that gloomy and evil Obituary Death Metal sound. On this album how ever I began to miss most of those good old agonizing quitar sawing solos with lots of vibrato bar tricks. Santallo's solos are too tidy and won't fit in Obituary mould (on my opinion). Even that his history is in one of the most essential Death metal bands in the world, I still prefer the "Western sound". Album is still pretty great. There isn't many bad songs and they all are filled with pretty catchy Obituary-style self-repeating bone-breaking riffs. They have gain back the gloomy atmosphere of their 80's and early 90's. Bass is mixed loud, but doesn't really concern me, although I prefer the sharp gain sounds of the early days. ONE THING'S FOR SURE : No one hasn't even yet beaten the "wild boar- slaughter" sound of John Tardy. Xecutioner's return is quite telling name for this album , it is Obituary's comeback and proceeding to the better. Worth 9/10 for giving new hope. Certainly the potential club or festival gig at the Summer here in Finland's wilderness would be well worth the wait. I remember Donald mentioning, that Finland really reminded him of Florida's forests and marshes. 
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| SheWarlock Account deleted |
SheWarlock
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I think it is kind of boring it needed more energy they may have left it in the Frozen in time album I think that has more power 
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
I listened to this a few times and it still didn't affect as did their other releases. Nevermind. Maybe I need to let it grow on me or something.
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| Hugoj33 Posts: 72  |
It's really a good album. Not one of the best, but in the last time it's the best for sure
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Great album. And a very good review. ''Drop Dead'', ''Contrast the dead'' and 'In your head are the highlights to me.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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I love those fuckers.
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