''Slowly We Rot'' is the debut studio album by American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

, released in 1989 through R/C Records. It is the only Obituary release to feature bassist Daniel Tucker. Lead guitarist Allen West would leave soon after but returned for the third album, '' The End Complete'' (1992). It was re-released on January 27, 1997 with remastered audio and liner notes. A live version of the album ''Slowly We Rot: Live & Rotting'' was recorded in October 2020 and released in August 2022 by

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The ...

. ''Slowly We Rot'' is widely considered to be a landmark album in the development of the death metal genre, and one of the first death metal albums ever recorded due to its guttural vocals, "breakneck speed",

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

drumming and blast beats.

Music

Music journalist T Coles described ''Slowly We Rot'' as "the sound of being smashed to pieces by hammers, dropping the scalpel precision in favour of blunt trauma" as well as "a remorseless assault against the senses and body." The album has also been described as "more grounded" than some of the band's contemporaries, such as Morbid Angel. The album has been said to have taken elements from early

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

bands Death and Possessed "to a new level of deathliness." Jason Birchmeier of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said, "The music of Obituary wasn't simply an extreme form of

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

-esque

speed metal Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It is desc ...

with ghastly vocals; it was full-fledged

." ''Slowly We Rot'' is considered to be one of the band's heavier efforts, and was considered to be a "slower, groovier" take on death metal in 1989. The album's guitars are tuned to E Standard. The album is noted for its tempo changes and sections that have been described as "doomy". John Tardy's vocal performance on the album has been characterized by his "painful-sounding"

death growl The death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other Extreme metal, extreme Heavy metal genres, subgenres of heavy metal music. Sometimes death gro ...

s and "moans". Scott Burns's production on the album has been called "downright

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

." Birchmeier assessed that the album's mix " ackedthe high highs and low lows that would later become his trademark."

Reception and legacy

''Slowly We Rot'' remains a staple essential album of both

and in the band's discography, and has been noted for its innovations in

. Jason Birchmeier of

wrote, "If death metal first came to life during the mid- to late '80s courtesy of bands like Florida's Death ..Obituary, brought it to fruition in 1989 with ''Slowly We Rot''. ..These innovations don't seem so revolutionary now, given the innumerable death metal bands that arose during the '90s and beyond ..But in 1989, Obituary were blazing a new trail, along with other Florida peers like Morbid Angel and, a bit later, Deicide,

Malevolent Creation Malevolent Creation is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1986 and later based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band's original members were guitarists Phil Fasciana and Jim Nickles and vocalist Bret Hoffmann, who were ...

, and

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based in Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio ...

Track listing

All lyrics by John Tardy

Personnel

Obituary

*John Tardy – vocals * Allen West – lead guitar *

Trevor Peres Trevor Peres (born July 25, 1969) is an United States of America, American heavy metal music, heavy metal musician best known as the rhythm guitarist,Grow Kory, 6 February 2019, https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/02/06/memories-remain-the-makin ...

– rhythm guitar *Daniel Tucker – bass *Donald Tardy – drums, percussion *JP Chartier – lead guitar on tracks 13 and 14 *Jerome Grable – bass on tracks 13 and 14

Productions

*Executive producer: Monte Conner *Arranged by Obituary *Produced, recorded & engineered by Scott Burns *Mixed by Scott Burns, Donald Tardy & John Tardy *Mastered by Mike Fuller

References

External links

''Slowly We Rot''
at ''Media Club'' {{Authority control 1989 debut albums Albums produced by Scott Burns (record producer) Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording Obituary (band) albums Roadrunner Records albums