(RockAndMetal.com) (03/12/04)

By Michael Bennett

TAMPA, FL, USA - In one of the most anticipated (and eagerly awaited) reunions in Death Metal history, OBITUARY returned to the stage in the city where it all began: Tampa, Florida.

Forget every band that played last weekend's Sun N' Steel Festival.

This was it. Obituary.

The band that authored some of the genre's finest and most unforgettable albums: "Slowly We Rot," "Cause Of Death," "The End Complete"...

A heaving, belching nauseously heavy sound that some have tried to duplicate and none have ever replicated.

Cut to March 7th, 2004.

The Obituary banner is hanging. The old Michael Whelan scrims from the "Cause Of Death" era flank the stage, and the anticipation is as thick as the Florida night air.

When the band takes the stage, breaking into (appropriate enough) "Back From The Dead," it's like they've never left.

In fact, with the exception of guitarist Allen West's shaved head, the entire band looks exactly as they did a decade before.

Most noticeably, monster-throated belcher John Tardy, replete with the same length blonde mane is charging around, ferociously overjoyed to be back.

Now hirsute, Donald Tardy, fresh from providing the party rhythm for partymeister supreme Andrew WK, isn't missing a beat.

Frank Watkins is still beating the crap out of his bass while West churns out searing lead after lead.

And of course, Trevor Peres is a mass of hair surrounding his near-skeletal visage.

Showing no signs of tire from an earlier set that evening with his other band, Catastrophic, Peres is still Obituary's sickening riff-master general.

Simply put, the boys are back to pulp, pulverize and probably do awful things to your intestines.

Yes, Obituary are back, with more shows planned (including a set at New Jersey's Metal Meltdown last weekend) and a new album in the works.

Seven years later, songs like 'Chopped In Half,' 'Dying,' or the show's closer, 'Slowly We Rot,' sound as vital as ever.

Apparently, there's a handful of new Obie-tunage in the works that the band plans to record in the coming months.

Yep, Obituary are back. More details to follow soon...

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