Donald Tardy

The band has gone through several lineup changes, with the Tardy brothers and Peres being the only constant members.

• Name — Obituary • Landscape — yes • Alias — * Executioner (1984–1986) • Xecutioner (1986–1988) • Origin — Tampa, Florida, U.S. • Genre — Death metal • Works — Discography • Years Active — * 1984–1998 • 2003–present • Label — * Relapse • Candlelight • Roadrunner • Website — obituary.cc • Current Members — * John Tardy • Donald Tardy • Trevor Peres • Terry Butler • Ken Andrews • Past Members — * Allen West • Daniel Tucker • James Murphy • Frank Watkins • Ralph Santolla

Founded as Executioner in Tampa, Florida in 1984, they soon dropped the "E" from their name after discovering another band of the same name, becoming Xecutioner. The band's first lineup was composed of John Tardy (lead vocals), Donald Tardy (drums), Trevor Peres (rhythm guitar), Jerome Grable (bass), and Jerry Tidwell (lead guitar). The band was inspired by Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Savatage, Nasty Savage, and bands in the then-burgeoning Florida death metal scene: Death and Morbid Angel. The band released demos between 1985 and 1987 (the 1985 demo as Executioner and the 1986 and 1987 demos as Xecutioner). They made their vinyl debut in 1987 with two tracks ("Find the Arise" and "Like the Dead") on the Raging Death compilation. Not long after the release of the compilation, bassist Grable was replaced by Daniel Tucker and guitarist Tidwell was replaced by Allen West. The following year, shortly before the release of the band's debut album Slowly We Rot (1989), they changed their name to Obituary. Soon after the release of the album, however, Tucker and West quit the band and were respectively replaced by Frank Watkins and former Death guitarist James Murphy. This new lineup recorded the band's second album Cause of Death, which was released on September 19, 1990, and is often considered to be one of the most important death metal albums of all time. Obituary supported Cause of Death with its first world tour, first North America with Sacred Reich and Forced Entry, Europe with Demolition Hammer and Morgoth, and then North America again with Sepultura and Sadus.

In 1991, just prior to the writing and recording sessions of their third album, Murphy left Obituary to join Cancer and was replaced by a returning Allen West. The lineup of Peres, Watkins, West and the Tardy brothers recorded the band's next three albums, starting with The End Complete (1992). The End Complete was a moderate success for Obituary, having sold more than a hundred thousand copies, and it was the band's first album to chart in the United States and Europe. This success also resulted in the release of Obituary's first-ever music video "The End Complete", which received significant airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball, and the band toured behind the album in over year (including headlining the Complete Control Tour with Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Agnostic Front), going from playing clubs to theaters and arenas. Obituary's fourth studio album, World Demise, was released in 1994. Although the album did not sell as well as The End Complete, it still managed to reach the top 100 in several territories, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and a music video for "Don't Care" was shot. In support of World Demise, the band toured North America with Napalm Death and a then-unknown Machine Head, and Europe with Pitchshifter and Eyehategod. After a two-and-a-half year break from touring and recording, Obituary released their fifth studio album Back from the Dead in 1997. While the band did not abandon the death metal sound it had become known for with its previous albums, Back from the Dead is noted for being Obituary's most diverse record, incorporating elements of groove metal, hardcore punk, and in particular, its closing track "Bullituary" is played in a rap/nu metal style. Regarding the album's musical direction, John Tardy recalls: "We took a more raw approach with that album. We used a new producer Jaime Locke on that record. We really like the NY Hardcore sound and those influences came out on that record. I love the album really in your face. Also my friends Skinner T and #1 Diablo did some rapping on it."

• Illustration — Obituary in 2009 By 1998, Obituary had disbanded due to exhaustion from touring, lack of support from their label, and its band members getting jobs and raising families of their own. John Tardy said, "We stopped because there were a lot of politics in the band at the time. We were spending more than we were making, the label stopped supporting us and we were all getting older and for the first time in our lives realized this wasn't going to last forever. So we all had different opinions about our band." Guitarist Trevor Peres later claimed that one of the reasons Obituary broke up was because they "had been together since we were teenagers, and then all of a sudden it turned into a professional thing and we were touring and for like 10 years we didn't live like normal people, we were like animals, like monkeys in a cage." Following Obituary's breakup, Donald Tardy played in Andrew W.K.'s touring band (during W.K.'s appearance on Saturday Night Live Tardy wore an Obituary shirt). Allen West focused on his two projects, Lowbrow and Six Feet Under. Trevor Peres formed Catastrophic in 2001, which released one album, The Cleansing, in that same year. Obituary reformed in 2003 and Catastrophic continued to exist alongside the reformed Obituary. A reunion album, Frozen in Time, was released in 2005. The band's first live DVD, Frozen Alive, was released in January 2007. Obituary was signed with Candlelight Records for its next three releases, Xecutioner's Return (2007), Darkest Day (2009), and the EP Left to Die (2008). A concert DVD release was also announced for January 2010. Since 2012, the band has been highly involved with the promotion of a new social networking site called Unation, as well as Donald Tardy beginning a Cat Sanctuary organization called Metal Meowlisha, an organization practicing "trap-neuter-vaccinate-return", and caring for 25 cat colonies (200 cats). In April 2010, Obituary began work on new material for their ninth studio album Inked in Blood, which was not released until 2014. It was the first Obituary album not to be recorded with longtime bassist Frank Watkins since their 1989 debut album Slowly We Rot. On August 2, 2013, the band launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $10,000.00; the money raised was promised to allow Obituary to record and release their ninth album independently. The goal was met on August 3. When interviewed by metal webzine All About the Rock, John Tardy said of the Kickstarter campaign, "This campaign has been awesome and just confirms again what we already know and that is that we have the greatest fans in the world. We are using Kickstarter to raise enough money to release an album on our own. This is not a bash against record companies, it is just what we want to do. Years ago this would not even be a thought, but today we feel everything is in place for us, for better or worse, give it a shot." Though the band raised enough money to self-released, they were still signed to Relapse Records and partnered with the label for distribution of Inked In Blood, their first Relapse release.

• Illustration — Obituary at Party.San Metal Open Air in 2016 Obituary toured Europe with Carcass, Napalm Death, Voivod and Herod during the fall of 2015. On October 18, 2015, former and longtime Obituary bassist Frank Watkins died from cancer. On August 24, 2016, Obituary streamed a new song called "Loathe", a B-side to their then-upcoming single "Ten Thousand Ways to Die", which was released on October 21. The band released its self-titled tenth studio album on March 17, 2017. A month prior to its release, the band released a song called "No", which appeared on Decibel magazine's flexi disc series. In November and December 2018, Obituary embarked on a European tour as part of Slayer's farewell tour, also featuring Lamb of God and Anthrax. When asked in a June 2018 interview about the next Obituary album, drummer Donald Tardy said, "We're always thinking about new songs and writing riffs and this and that. But at this time of our lives and this time of the music industry… This new album has only been out for just over a year now, so we're in no hurry to try and push another album out of us as quick as we can; there's no sense." In an August 2020 interview with Australia's Riff Crew, Donald Tardy revealed that, during the pandemic, Obituary had been working on a "monster" of a new album planned for release in 2021. The band had planned to tour in 2021, specifically Europe, in support of the record. In a March 2021 interview with France's United Rock Nations, vocalist John Tardy reiterated his brother's comments, saying that Obituary had been working on new material during the COVID-19 pandemic, and added that their new album would be released in 2022, with a tour to follow. On November 10, 2022, Obituary released "The Wrong Time" as the lead single from their then-upcoming eleventh studio album Dying of Everything, released on January 13, 2023. The band embarked on a headlining tour of North America during the spring of 2023 with Immolation, Blood Incantation, and Ingrown as support. This tour included an appearance at Milwaukee Metal Fest in May. The band performed at the Sonic Temple music festival in Columbus, Ohio in May 2025. They also played Maryland Deathfest that year. An Obituary box set, under the title Godly Beings, was released on July 18, 2025 through Dissonance Productions. It includes the band's first four albums in their entirety with bonus tracks, and is "complimented with the addition of liner notes from writer David Gehlke, who has written Turned Inside Out, the official biography of Obituary" and "four reproduction postcards featuring classic images of the band." Obituary is currently working on a new album, which, according to bassist Terry Butler, could be released in 2026 or 2027. The band announced US tour dates for March 2026, with Intoxicated and Castrator supporting. Acid Bath is set to appear on two dates of this tour. The band is also schedueld to return to Milwaukee Metal Fest in June 2026.

Obituary's music is based on heavy groove guitar and drum riffs along with John Tardy's growling vocals, creating one of the signature sounds of death metal. Obituary played material that was described as "slower, catchier" on the albums The End Complete and World Demise. Jon Wiederhorn of Loudwire wrote that the band "were less musically adept than Morbid Angel or Death, so they downplayed whirlwind tempos for chugging, grimy half-time rhythms that sounded like they were oozing from a sewage treatment plant." Eduardo Rivadavia of Loudwire wrote, "Obituary managed to stand out among the early Floridian death metal bands by way of a very simple, but effective songwriting strategy. Namely, while most of their contemporaries were still indebted to thrash and raging away at blazing speeds, Obituary embraced the slower tempos typical of doom metal, and fused it all together behind some of the era's heaviest guitar tones."

• Illustration — John Tardy • Illustration — Donald Tardy • Illustration — Trevor Peres • Illustration — Terry Butler • Illustration — Kenny Andrews

• John Tardy – vocals (1988–1998, 2003–present) • Donald Tardy – drums (1988–1998, 2003–present) • Trevor Peres – rhythm guitar (1988–1998, 2003–present) • Terry Butler – bass (2010–present) • Kenny Andrews – lead guitar (2012–present)

• Allen West – lead guitar (1988–1989, 1991–1998, 2003–2006) • Daniel Tucker – bass (1988–1989) • James Murphy – lead guitar (1989–1991) • Frank Watkins – bass (1989–1998, 2003–2010; died 2015) • Ralph Santolla – lead guitar (2007–2011; died 2018)