Cause Of Death - Remastered

Originally released in 1990 by Roadrunner subsidiary R/C Records, Cause of Death is Obituary’s second studio album and a cornerstone of Florida death metal. The 2026 remastered edition, issued by Real Gone Music, restores the album’s original nine-song program in a new vinyl presentation, emphasizing the dense, cavernous sound that made the record an early genre landmark. Recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, it captures the band at a pivotal moment: vocalist John Tardy’s inhuman, guttural delivery and the crushing rhythm section of drummer Donald Tardy and guitarist Trevor Peres remained intact from the group’s debut, while lead guitarist James Murphy added more elaborate, technical, and melodic soloing.

Songs such as “Infected,” “Body Bag,” “Chopped in Half,” “Dying,” the title track, “Memories Remain,” and “Turned Inside Out” balance slow, oppressive riffing with bursts of punishing speed, creating a groove-heavy style that distinguishes Obituary from more frantic death-metal contemporaries. The track list also includes a cover of Celtic Frost’s “Circle of the Tyrants,” underscoring the band’s debt to earlier extreme metal. Michael Whelan’s eerie, blue-toned cover painting matches the music’s atmosphere of disease, decay, and mortality, while the 2026 remaster presents the record as a focused, influential document of the era when Obituary helped define death metal’s blunt-force power and grotesque vocal vocabulary.