Obituary’s debut album, 1989’s Slowly We Rot, set them apart from the death metal pack with its swampy riffing, but it was on this 1990 follow-up that their sound congealed. John Tardy’s unhinged vocals and his brother John’s tumbling drums, lashed to the second-gear grind of guitarists James Murphy (recently ex-Death) and Trevor Peres and Frank Watkins’ sludgy bass, gave their music an ominous feel, like you were being stalked by a faceless figure. Even when they played fast, they seemed like they were playing slow, which allowed the deceptively simple riffs of songs like “Chopped In Half” and “Dying,” not to mention their thunderous cover of Celtic Frost’s “Circle Of The Tyrants,” to sink deep into the listener’s brain.

– Phil Freeman