Look, I’m going to make this real easy for you, OK? Autopsy are hands down one of the best death metal bands on the planet. It’ll save you and me both a lot of trouble if you’d just head over to the awesome Peaceville website and buy the album right now (hell – buy some of their other releases while you’re there) – trust me when I say you won’t regret it.
Still here? Well, OK then, but don’t say I didn’t try and save you the time. So, Autopsy. A relentlessly old school, gloriously un-pc outfit who revel in unleashing their symphonies of sickness upon the unwary, the band comprises lifelong metal heads, whose passion for their art is at the core of what has made the band so enduring.
For long term-fans, the band’s surprising return in 2010, following a fifteen-year hiatus, has been richly rewarding, with each new release (suitably adorned with Wes Benscoter’s glorious artwork) seeking to refine the band’s blistering arrangements, without losing the gloriously raw edge expected of the genre. Following 2022’s exceptional Morbidity Triumphant, the band teamed up with Scott Evans and Greg Wilkinson at Sharkbite Studios to deliver an eleven-track sonic mauling and, while it probably goes without saying, there’s no sign of compromise yet on the horizon.
Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts unloads upon the listener with the five-minute, ghoulish thrash of Rabid Funeral, an off-kilter explosion of hyper-fast riffs, guttural vocals and primal, percussive blasts. However, it’s the mid-song breakdown, where the band go all doomy on your arse, that really cements the deal. Well, that and the recognition that Greg Wilkinson (in the band as of 2021), is an incredibly underrated bassist, whose prowling lines add significant depth to the track’s horror-infused second act. It’s let down, only slightly, by a final fade that’s a little ropey in execution – but it’s otherwise a phenomenal opening cut. In contrast, Throatsaw doesn’t even pretend to offer nuance, the sub-three-minute assault designed to leave the listener feeling as if they’ve had a brief encounter with the titular instrument. Slower and meaner, No Mortal Left Alive lumbers into view on the back of a viscous doom riff that only gets sludgier as the track progresses. Possessed of an awesomely unpleasant atmosphere and underpinned by Greg’s brilliant bass work, it’s an early album highlight. Then there’s the delightfully named Well Of Entrails which is even slower, with its soul-sapping mix of corrosive sludge riffs and throat-shredding roars offset by surprisingly melodic, harmonised leads. When it does eventually take off, as of course it must, the frantic battery provides the much-needed release after such sustained tension. The first half concludes with the title track, a thrashier number that opens on a series of grinding leads, before Chris Reifert’s stabbing percussion drags the track down to the depths to meet his unholy growl. A hulking and dramatic piece, it goes through a number of twists and turns over the course of its sub-four-minute runtime, and it’s hardly surprising the band named the album for it.
Kicking off the second half, Bones To The Wolves strikes an epic pose before Reifert brings his scabrous rasp to bear. Next up, the doom-laden Marrow Fiend is all the heavier for the mid-tempo chug the band deploy, while guitarists Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles trade licks with maniacal delight. While both Toxic Death Fuk and Lobotomizing Gods sit below the three-minute mark, the band’s approach could not be more different. While Toxic Death Fuk is a seismic blast of frantic, death metal energy, Lobotomoizing Gods is a dark stew of crepuscular doom, molasses-thick and delivered with blank-eyed ferocity. As a result, the impact of the whiplash-inducing Death Is The Answer is significant, and it leaves only the slithering horror of Coagulation to see the album out.
By now you surely know what you’re going to get with Autospy – brilliantly played, brutally recorded death metal, with the grimy atmosphere of exploitation horror movies and a lyrical obsession to match – it’s a brutal comic book come to life and played at ear-numbing volume. That the band seem only to get better with each subsequent release is not so much the minor miracle it first appears, but a testament to Autopsy’s absolute love of what they do. With the album wrapped up in typically brilliant Benscoter art (best enjoyed on vinyl – obviously), this is another essential album from the lords of old school death. It’s cool – buy it. 9.5/10
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