OBITUARY Succeeds On KICKSTARTER, Announces MORRISOUND Documentary For Backers

After legendary Florida death metallers OBITUARYlaunched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to cover production costs of their new album, fans opened their wallets in support at an unexpectedly quick rate. The project goal of $10,000 was earmarked for mastering, mixing and producing the new CD — which will be recorded at the band's own studio in Tampa, Florida.

As of right now (Tuesday, August 6),the campaign sits at $17,376, with 40 days left to go.

OBITUARY initially launched the campaign with "Stretch Goals" at monetary denominations above and beyond the project's goal, the first at $20,000, which offered a reward with a brief description that read: "Morrisound documentary: We took a camera crew to Morrisound Studios, where it all started, set up our gear and recorded for three days. If we reach $20,000, we will edit the footage into a four-part documentary. Every single backer will receive a digital download of the 'Morrisound Experience'."

The project is quickly approaching the $20,000 benchmark, and late last night (August 5) the band posted an update describing — in some detail — the "long and tangled history" between Morrisound Recording Studio, OBITUARY and death metal music.

The metal world seems to be split between those in full support of OBITUARY and their efforts to crowd fund an album, and those who can't seem to shake the feeling that this really boils down to the guys begging for money.

Take it how you will, they said from the start. "We want to make music for the fans that still come out to shows, that still rock our gear, that still have a 'Slowly We Rot' CD in your car. You...you are the reason that we are doing this," the OBITUARY members said.

If the project's quick success is any indication, OBITUARY is pretty in tune with what their fans want. With the announcement of the "Morrisound Experience" details, it's getting harder and harder to argue that this is about making a quick buck with their hands out. The boys seem to be offering some truly unique and well-thought-out rewards for their Kickstarter supporters.

Quotes on the Morrisound documentary:

Donald Tardy (OBITUARY drummer): "We couldn't be more excited about sharing the 'Morrisound Experience' with our fans. We have performed this classic set list on every corner of the planet, so for us to have the chance to go back, perform it in the studio where it all happened, and deliver it back to the fans is really freaking awesome!"

John Tardy (OBITUARY vocalist): "We wound up at Morrisound, where we set up and went over the first three albums, 16 songs. We played those songs, in Morrisound, and had about 50 friends, some coolers of beer. We had some real good friends like Scott Burns, Mark Prator, Jim and Tom Morris, Jon Oliva showed up, Kelly from ATHEIST, some of the DEICIDE guys showed up. It was awesome! We just set up there and jammed it. We answered some questions about Morrisound's early days and how things went while we were there, so we ended up putting together this documentary, even though I hate that word, 'documentary.'"

OBITUARY is considered to be one of the pioneering bands in the death metal genre, and their 1992 album "The End Complete" holds the title of the one of the best-selling pure death metal albums ever released, with 100,000 copies sold in the U.S., and over 250,000 worldwide.

The band got their start in 1984 under the name EXECUTIONER, they later changed the name to XECUTIONER, and finally to OBITUARY in 1988 after signing with Roadrunner Records.