Obituary remains one of the most impressive, most brutal, most respected, most influential bands in the death metal genre. Having perfected a distinct, slow, slimy, sludge-groovy, "OBITUARY" sound, they truly stand apart from the thousands of also-a-death-metal-band s. "Cause of Death" marks the time when they perfected the "Obituary" sound or maybe mastered the art of combining Finesse with Aggression. As compared to their debut "Slowly We Rot", "Cause of Death" displays a much slower, tighter, less raw, much more focused, more confidant – overall, stronger, sharper musicianship. John Tardy’s gravel-gargling delivery seems to have intensified (unbelievably). James Murphy chips in some remarkable axe-work, as usual. Donald Tardy’s double-bass drumming is simply awesome. Trevor Peres and new bassman Frank Watkins provide the rock-solid rhythm / grooves. The album has all the markings of a winner. The album kicks off with Infected, which has some solid double-bass slamming. Body Bag has a very groovy riff; Chopped in Half" is probably the fastest song in the album; "Find the Arise" has some real energetic chugging. One common feature among all songs is that they’re mostly instrumental with very few words (though it sometimes becomes difficult to figure out if John is singing or just growling). In fact, in a few songs, the songs almost sound as if they’ve ended and then they stretch out further. Obituary also pay homage to Celtic Frost and cover "Circle of the Tyrants". Their rendition of this classic just fits perfectly into the rest of the album. Overall, it’s a very strong album – a must-listen for any self-respecting metalhead.