Obituary Kickstart New Album

Floridian death metal titans Obituary are the latest band to utilize crowdfunding to create a new album — and, proving that their fanbase is as rabid as ever nearly twenty-five years after the release of Slowly We Rot, the band reached their goal of $10,000 in just a single day. Consequently, the band has now begun to unveil “stretch goals” — bonus items which will be funded as the band continues to exceed their initial objective. Right now, they’re promising a digital download of a documentary chronicling some of their time at the legendary Morrisound Studios if they reach $20k; the next stretch goal will be unveiled as they approach the $35k mark. Which they seem likely to hit, given that, as of this writing, there’s still another forty-two days left for them to raise funds before the campaign concludes.

Although I certainly want to see Obituary succeed, I do wish the incentives the band is offering fans who contribute were a little cooler; you have to spend five bucks just to get a download of a single song, and fifteen to download the full album, which, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, is significantly more than is generally charged for legal downloads these days (DLs of new metal albums go for six-to-ten bucks on Amazon). For the five to ten of you out there still purchasing physical media, you’ll need to spend at least $65 to get “a physical copy of the album for your Walkman.” I honestly can’t tell if that’s a joke or if they’re promising cassette copies of the release. I would hope that for $65 I could at least get a CD if not a vinyl.

In any case, you can learn more about the campaign, and contribute if you so choose, here.