-Obituary-

Obituary was originally formed under the name Xecutioner in Florida, USA, in 1984. Since there were already a band called Xecutioner in Boston they changed into Desecration and finally in 1988 to Obituary. The band was one of the first groundbreaking bands in the new death metal genre and together with bands like Death, Morbid Angel and Deicide they started the American death metal tradition and in a way also the extremel metal scene in Norway since these bands were their main influence.

In 1989 Obituary released their debut album "Slowly We Rot" and 1990 the second one "Cause Of Death". By now Allen West had left the band and was replaced by former Death guitarist James Murphy and bassist Daniel Tucker was replaced by Frank Watkins. In 1994 the band went on tour and after a three year hiatus they returned with the new album "Back From The Dead". Again they became inactive for some time before they announced a semi-official breakup in 2000 since John Tardy did not like touring very much. When Andrew W.K. played at Ozzfest on July 27th, 2002, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Tardy brothers and bassist Frank Watkins reunited on stage and played some Obituary tracks. In January 2004 plans for a new studio album were revealed.