Obituary: Barely Alive tour at the Triffid -

16 January 2024 – The Triffid, Brisbane – words by Alessandro Ambrosi – picture by Charlyn Cameron

1984, Tampa, FL.

The Tardy brothers John (drums) and Donald (vocals), together with guitarists Trevor Peres and Allen West and bassist Daniel Tucker form Executioner, inspired by the Florida death metal scene with bands like Death and Morbid Angel. In 1988 Executioner becomes Obituary and as they say the rest is history…DEATH METAL history

40 years later, with a few line-up changes and a 6-year hiatus we are here at the Triffid for the Barely Alive tour.

Supporting the Death Metal Juggernauts are the kings of Australian Death Metal Psycroptic which after 20 years on the road need no introduction for their technical style of death metal. Opening the night and warming up the audience ears is Melbourne’s Black Lava with their mix of old school death, black and progressive. The rain has stopped and the temperature is actually very manageable for a summer Tuesday night/work night which is no issue for the almost fully packed Triffid (as Jason from Psycroptic will point out later on in the night). A fair number of grey and receding hairlines but also a good number of younger patrons fill up the place.

After a brief line up at the merch stand it’s time to go check Black Lava. The 4 piece from Victoria is a well-oiled up Death Metal machine with sludge and black influences. Their 7 songs for the night have a solid groove with a well-balanced mix of slower melodic parts and fast aggressive tempos.

Opener ‘Baptised in Ice’ along with ‘Northern Dawn’, ‘Soul Furnace’ and ‘Eye of the Moon’ are straight from their 2022 debut SOUL FURNACE. Singer Rob keeps the interactions with the crowds going and the other guys do their job admirably. Solid performance after the one a few months back at the “A cold day in BNE” festival still here at the Triffid. Check them out for sure!

Just the time for some fresh air and a cold drink while the stage gets set for Psycroptic and we’re back inside to an even more packed Triffid. These guys, after 25 years on the scene need no introduction, especially in homeland Australia. Don’t let the acoustic intro of opener ‘Cold’ fool you! It’s blast beats, double kicks and thrashy technical death metal extravaganza for the whole setlist which picks from pretty much their whole career.

Psycroptic – The Triffid – photos by Charlyn Cameron

‘We Were The Keepers’ moves the crowd which is not shy of moshing and crowd surfing, incited by Jason and this will be a constant throughout the night. ‘The Watcher of All’ precedes ‘Rend Asunder’ the first song from their new album DIVINE COUNCIL. ‘(Ob)Servant’ and ‘Enslavement’ close a great act by the Tassie Devils. 5 years was a long wait and the promise is not to wait another 5 to see them again in Brisbane. After thanking session drummer Robin for filling in (and doing an outstanding job at that), and the crowd for coming, it’s time to leave the stage.

A swift 20 minutes later and everyone is ready for an hour of unadulterated Obituary Death Metal.

‘Snortin’ Whiskey’ by Pat Travers opens the night for the Tampa five. We’re all ready for some ‘Redneck Stomp’ and that gets delivered with surgical precision. The hour that Obituary play, the set moves up and down through their 40 year career. ‘Sentence Day’ and ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ from the self-titled 2017 album set the tone for the night.

It’s going to be Death Metal and it’s going to be the way Obituary do it!

‘The Wrong Time’ and ‘Barely Alive’ from the new album DYING OF EVERYTHING are well received from the never still crowd. The night briefly slows down with the apt titled ‘Slow Death’ but it’s just a moment.

Obituary – The Triffid – photos by Charlyn Cameron

We go back to 1990 with ‘Find the Arise’ from CAUSE OF DEATH and then back to 2023 with ‘My Will to Live’. The medley ‘Chopped in Half/Turned Inside Out’ precedes a brief break before the encore. ‘War’ and the title track ‘Dying of Everything’ make way for that old school Death Metal masterpiece called ‘Slowly We Rot’.

Horns up for an audience picture for social media and Obituary bids farewell to Brisbane. Happy, sweaty and definitely sore it’s time to head back home after an awesome night of music!