| Cause of Death | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 19, 1990 | |||
| Recorded | 1990 | |||
| Studio | Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida | |||
| Genre | Death metal | |||
| Length | 41:02 | |||
| Label | Roadrunner | |||
| Producer | Scott Burns, Obituary | |||
| Obituary chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10[2] |
| Select |   [3] |
Cause of Death is the second album by Florida death metal band Obituary, released on September 19, 1990, through Roadrunner Records.
Cause of Death is considered a classic album in the history of death metal.[4] The artwork was done by artist Michael Whelan. It is their first release with longtime member Frank Watkins on bass, and also their first and only album with guitarist James Murphy, previously of Death. Murphy did not contribute to the songwriting as the riffs he showed to the band would end up appearing on Disincarnate's Dreams of the Carrion Kind.[5]
The cover art of this album was used in an H. P. Lovecraft collection, Lovecraft's Nightmare A. It was intended to be used as the cover artwork of Sepultura's album Beneath the Remains which released the year before Cause of Death. However, Roadrunner Records sent the original album cover of Beneath the Remains to Obituary. Monte Conner of Roadrunner forced Sepultura to use another Michael Whelan illustration for Beneath the Remains, Nightmare in Red. The second portion of the painting, Lovecraft's Nightmare B was used by Demolition Hammer for their 1992 album Epidemic of Violence. The incident with Sepultura led to Igor Cavalera becoming upset with Monte Conner, with Cavalera notably having a tattoo of the cover on his arm.[5]
Obituary played Cause of Death in its entirety at the 2019 Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6]
Cause of Death contains a cover of Celtic Frost's "Circle of the Tyrants". Celtic Frost frontman Tom G. Warrior has since endorsed the cover.[5]
- ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Obituary: Cause of Death at AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 323. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ^ Perry, Neil (October 1990). "Obituary: Cause Of Death". Select. No. 4. p. 110.
- ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Obituary: The End Complete at AllMusic. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c Tardy, Donald; Tardy, John; Peres, Trevor; Watkins, Frank (February 6, 2019). "Memories Remain: The Making of Obituary's "Cause of Death"". Decibel (Interview). Interviewed by Kory Grow. Philadelphia: Red Flag Media. ISSN 1557-2137. OCLC 903245231. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ Kennelty, Greg (October 30, 2018). "Baroness, Obituary, Enslaved & More Announced For Decibel Metal & Beer Fest 2019". Metal Injection. Retrieved December 16, 2018.