OBITUARY released their second album, "Cause of Death," on September 19th, 1990, through Roadrunner Records. Scott Burns produced it with the band at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, and it is the record on which Florida death metal arrived fully formed — slower and heavier than its thrash parentage, built on downtuned guitars, a swing in the rhythm section that no one else had, and John Tardy's inarticulate howl, a voice that mostly abandons words in favour of pure sound. James Murphy played lead guitar on his only OBITUARY album, and the band covered CELTIC FROST's "Circle of Tyrants," a version Tom G. Warrior himself has praised. Alongside "Slowly We Rot," it is considered a landmark of the genre; the band performed it in full at Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in 2019, and in 2025 Loudwire named it the best death metal album ever made.
