Obituary hailing from Tampa, Florida are the best death metal act of all time and recorded this live album during their "Back From The Dead" tour [`97-`98] in America and Europe. Obituary has John Tardy keeping you in deathly silence with his manic growls, Allen West providing the shrill leads, Frank Watkins on the bass and the battering ram duo of Donald Tardy on the drums and Trevor Peres on the rhythm. Most of tracks on this `set of doom’ comprises of tracks of their last studio release `Back from the Dead’ a groovier album and also others mostly from `Cause of Death’ and `World Demise’ their prominent releases. But the fact remains that the Obies remain as brutal and savage as ever with their deadened compositions. Trevor’s psychopathic brain has conjured up the gory and intricate front cover retaining the high standards of their album covers. Right from the word go the Obies trample you down with "Download’ off their latest album and what amazes me at this point is how John manages to keep up that psychotic gnarl of his after almost a decade of the bands deadly-existence. The songs from the new one are more acceptable than before but they’ve not compromised on aggression as you’ll soon find out on "By the Light" and "Platonic Disease" which infests your rotting bodies. The infamous track "Chopped in Half" is the second track on it which should have interchanged places with the former as it would have been the most explosive start to any live album ever released!! Another totally outstanding track is "Dying" from `C.O.D.’ with its numerous tempo variations and extended instrumentation is one where Allen West impeccably plays the solos of James Murphy [the death metal guitar master]. The album may come as disappointing live album to many as the crowd interaction is kept to minimum with the band introducing only a couple of songs. But a true Obituary fan would be busy smashing his head on his speakers rather than caring for such petty things. Playing slow means that you have to compromise on heaviness is what the Obies are here to disprove with their unhurried bone crushing riffing, Donald’s double bass pounding like a super fast express train and West’s ear-splitting, wailing solos as they collectively crush your soul. The crowd is inaudible because of the bands sonic heaviness but you can reely hear them shout when John lets them in on the secret that the show’s being recorded live. Another absolutely awesome track is "Final Thoughts" from `World Demise’ with the vocals slowly coming to the forefront giving you just enough time for a few thoughts before they demolish with one chop. It’s a groove-oriented number and you’ll certainly like it in one go like the track "Don’t Care". The key to unlocking some of the clues to John’s garbled singing is only more careful listening to that album, as they’ve never published their diabolical lyric sheet. What is all the more amazing is the fervor of the album as it was recorded in Boston in Sep. ’97 halfway through their non-stop tour and no signs of fatigue can be observed in their sound. And reely a lot of credit has to go to the brotherly duo of John and Donald as I feel their job is most exhaustive. The 65 odd minute long album comes to a close with the title track of their mind-blowing debut "Slowly We Rot", a menacingly slow track bringing you to headbanging ecstasy and in the urgent of hospitalization too I hope?? John doesn’t introduce the songs so you might be lost as an inexperienced listener if you have the tape but it still is the best album any death metaller would suggest to a guy tired of thrash metal and wants to climb that step into death metal. The album is a `best of’ in some ways as it has all the killer numbers. Totally awesome listen for an obituary fan dedicated to the fans too and I’d give it 8.5/10. Death Metal Will Never Die….