Obituary, the Ronseal of metal, have been around for quite some time now. Seeming to be the trend these days comeback albums are seeing a re emergence, bands setting the standard unfairly high! With Inked In Blood a long time coming, the band begun their campaign through Kickstarter and make no mistake. This is Obituary at their grooviest and most raw but an album for the fans.

There’s not going to be any new ground to be broken simply because Obituary have already broken it! The brilliant Cause Of Death was a trend setter in itself and Inked In Blood doesn’t rewrite Obituary’s history but is damned well going to be a great chapter. From the off we’re thrown into quintessential Obituary with “Visions In My Head” winning award for grooviest track of the year along with a fantastic bridge and solo executed by Kenny Andrews. Throughout the record the band are giving it their all, John Tardy sounds more pissed off than ever, spitting his lyrics with his sandpaper howl, his vocals give the album a rough texture synonymous with Obituary, his delivery matching the snail’s pace riffs making it a breath of fresh air in this all too polished new world.

Taking some left turns on title track “Inked In Blood” reminiscent of 90’s stoner but always giving it the Obituary seal of approval. The treacherous ground trodden by the slow burner that is “Deny You” initially given the listener the idea that the song will be another slow lumbering number only to introduce a brilliant harmony in the bridge with the steamroller drums of Donald Tardy. Obituary may not be the most technically proficient band going but what they do, they do incredibly well. Moving onto faster paced “Violence” the Florida blood barons show us that old dogs can keep up just as well with the new blood. An exemplary solo once again from Kenny Andrews proving that he sits right alongside the classic riffs of old school legend rhythm guitarist Trevor Peres. Giving the songs the talent needed whilst also administering a different pace to the album. A saving grace particularly as some of Obituary’s songs have the tendency to sound very similar.

“Violent By Nature”, sure to be a crowd pleaser have enough bounce to get even the most opinionated of metal head moving. The same can be said for final track “Paralyzed With Fear”. Opening with a riff straight out of hell giving the bulldozer Obituary all the momentum needed and a fantastic way to round off the album. With use of samples often being cheesy and unwarranted the finality of metallic clangs after “Within A Dying Breed” is genius, along with the song itself with its lethargic lead lines.

Inked In Blood isn’t going to be the revolutionary album of the year, but it was never going to be. If you like Obituary then you will love it, it’s some of the quintet’s best work with excellent production but if you’re looking for forward thinking ground breaking material then look elsewhere. Obituary created this album with their fans, for their fans. The Ronseal of metal will always be here doing exactly “What it says on the tin.”