It’s hard to overstate the influence that Obituary’s 1989 debut, Slowly We Rot, has had on the greater death metal multiverse. Produced by the prolific Floridian savant Scott Burns, this pivotal release from the genre’s early era takes the booming sound of late-Eighties thrash and douses it with darker guitar tones, chuggier tempos and neck-contorting vocals that sound like Tom Araya if he was possessed by a demon — all presented with a blood-soaked logo that’s meant to be displayed on a 12-by-12-inch square.
