Death metal legends Obituary are back with a little something to tide fans over before the band record their next full length effort in the form of a four song EP entitled Left To Die. The EP features two brand new songs, "Forces Realign" and "Left To Die", a cover of Celtic Frost’s "Dethroned Emperor", a re-recording of the Obituary classic "Slowly We Rot" and a video for the song "Evil Ways" from 2007’s Xecutioner’s Return.

If you’ve been following the recent releases of Obituary you know exactly what to expect from Left To Die. To those of you unfamiliar with the band’s releases since they reformed, or even those who’ve never picked up an Obituary CD before, the new material is slow, catchy old school death metal with a thick meaty bass tone, sharp heavy riffs with the occasional solo tossed in, backed by a simple catchy drumming style rounded out by the insane howls and snarls of vocalist John Tardy.

The two new tracks pick up exactly where Xecutioner’s Return left off as the band continues to regurgitate the style that made them famous. The songs are extremely catchy, simple and fucking heavy! The cover of "Dethroned Emperor" is solid, not quite as powerful as the cover they recorded of "Circle Of Tyrants" from 1990’s Cause Of Death, but still a solid slab of old school death thrash. The re-recording of "Slowly We Rot" is great, the original recording had a bit of a rough mix to it, but this time the song sounds very powerful, basically just imagine "Slowly We Rot" with the production from Cause Of Death and you get the idea.

For the most part people know whether they like Obituary or not, and those who do are going to love Left To Die, it’s short but satisfying. Those who hate them likely won’t be converted, but those who gave up on the band after the highly disappointing Back From The Dead should definitely check out the band’s releases since their reformation. 2005’s Frozen In Time, 2007’s Xecutioner’s Return and 2008’s Left To Die are old school Obituary releases created for old school Obituary fans. I dig Left To Die and look forward to their next full length effort!

Written By: Teufel