Nominally deathcore, Fit For An Autopsy’s sixth album, Oh What The Future Holds, explores a more eclectic sonic remit than such categorisation might at first suggest. While there is plenty of chunky, splenetic riffing to be found, moments of unearthly beauty neatly provide light and space to penetrate the darkness, while influences from a variety of sources hurtle through the mix, making for a consistently interesting, if still punishingly heavy, outing.
Opening with the title track, the band immediately capture the attention with a subtly evolving overture that nods towards NIN’s ambient excursions on The Fragile before the guitars of Will Putney, Pat Sheridan and Tim Howley enter the fray as a solid wedge of downtuned might. It’s a frightfully compelling opening and it paves the way neatly for the brutal strains of Pandora. Initially as savage as they come, Pandora sees the massed vocals of Joe Badolato and Pat Sheridan used to lethal effect, only for the latter stages of the track to veer off in an eerie, melodic direction that has more in kin with Tesseract and latter-day Whitechapel. Melodic solos and even clean vocals are allowed to slip into the mix and it all serves to make the heavier passages all the more effective for the moments of clam that preceded them. A similarly progressive edge can be seen in the stair-stepping guitars of Far From Heaven, which recalls Gojira’s most recent efforts in its reverb-washed vocals and angular riffing. Heavy but with a strong underlying sense of melody, which keeps things memorable, it’s a strong offering although the sheer menacing weight of In Shadows showcases a rather more feral side to the band that leaves the listener somewhat battered. The first half of the album wraps up with Two Towers, a track that runs through a variety of moods and sounds, with tips of the hat to Tool, Deftones and more across its near six-minute runtime. Conceptually it’s ambitious and musically it’s flawless, making for an album highlight and a strong indicator of just how open to progression the band are.
Building on an air of near-cinematic menace, A Higher Level Of Hate explodes into vicious life on the back of pounding toms. A vicious, neck-wrenching blast of crushing death metal, it sweeps away the lingering atmospherics of Two Towers and will surely set the moshpit afire. Similarly, Collateral Damage relies more on stabbing horror than eerie ambience, the acrobatic riffs and punishing percussion pushing the listener ever further into the darkness, although the deftly entwined lead work of the second half sends things spiralling towards the melodicism found elsewhere. It’s well done, the band ensuring that things remain powerful, even as the harmonies mount up. Conversely, Savages is a straightforward skull crusher, complete with throat-rupturing vocals and blazing guitars, and it forms a neat pairing with the equally unhinged Conditional Healing – surely the album’s heaviest moments can be found here. The album concludes with its longest and most daring track, The Man That I Was Not. With elements of A Perfect Circle shot through its DNA, the piece is an expansive and thoughtful conclusion to an album that delights in allowing the listener to catch glimpses of various sonic landscapes across its runtime.
Musically, Oh What The Future Holds is an incredibly impressive album. From the production and the musicianship through to the composition, it is clear that the band are keen to move far beyond the simple deathcore tag, and while there are plenty of sludgy guitars and hammer-blow riffs to navigate, the airy passages and touches of light make for a consistently surprising and involving experience. Highly recommended, Oh What The Future Holds is an impressive outing indeed. 8.5/10
