Gareth checks out the brand new upcoming release by some band you may of heard of…

Legends. Death metal legends, I mean who hasn’t heard of Autopsy, if you’re a fan of extreme music, then these prominent Californians must rank in the top echelons of death metal royalty. Formed by drummer and vocalist Chris Reifert after he left Death, or perhaps more accurately, when Death left him, as Chuck Schuldiner relocated the band from California to his home state of Florida and Chris didn’t want to move, by then he had already performed on the massively influential ‘Mutilation’ demo and the legendary debut album ‘Scream Bloody Gore’. Autopsy was born when Chris and guitarist Eric Cuttler got together in 1987 and chose the suitably gory moniker, drafted bassist Eric Eigard (the bassist spot has become a much filled in and revolving door position over the years) and released the 1987 demo. Soon after they recruited Danny Coralles from local band Bloodbath (no, not that Bloodbath) and released the classic ‘Critical Mass’ demo, and then the revered debut album ‘Severed Survival’. After three further albums (although we won’t mention album four!!), including one of my all-time favourite death metal albums; the magnificent second album ‘Mental Funeral’, the band called it a day and hung up their scalpels, forceps, and saws for the final time in 1995.

However, after thirteen festering years, rumours persisted of a return from the grave, and in 2008 the band reformed to record two brand new tracks for the special edition re-release of ‘Severed Survival’. Some live shows followed and then a brand-new EP ‘The Tomb Within’ was released to great critical praise in 2010, with a full album ‘Macabre Eternal’ following in 2011.

Two more full length albums ensued, ‘The Headless Ritual’ and ‘Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves’ were released in 2013 and 2014 respectively, again to great acclaim both by fans and critics alike. Since then, and although releasing an EP and a live album in the meantime, it’s been a bit of a quiet period after 2015’s ‘Skull Grinder’, but recently the boys have been on a real roll, not only did 2022 see the release of ninth album ‘Morbidity Triumphant’, but Static Abyss, the side project of Greg Wilkinson (current bassist and also producer/engineer) and Chris Reifert, also released not one, but two albums in ’22 and ’23 (which is almost like having two bonus Autopsy releases), and now only thirteen months after ‘Morbidity Triumphant’, comes the absurdly titled tenth album ‘Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts’.

Now if Cannibal Corpse symbolizes the pure brutal end of death metal, and Nile the pristine, yet equally heavy, technical end of death metal, then Autopsy represent something altogether more primordial, employing considerably more grinding rhythms, sludgier guitar sounds, and eerier melodies, there is a much more grimy and revolting sensation about the cacophonous racket Autopsy peddle, their recordings undiluted by digital processing, click tracks and other procedures used to obtain a faultless clinical sound, no theirs is a heaving, organic and fluid sound, and all the better for it. 

‘Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts’ follows on brilliantly from the momentum of ‘Morbidity Triumphant’, and you know exactly what you are going to get, ten new tracks of old-school death metal, with plenty of stomach-churning riffing, crazed leads and seething, over the top vocals. Opener ‘Rabid Funeral’ epitomizes all the elements that have made Autopsy infamous, breakneck tremolo picking and pulverizing drums, before slowing to a doomy crawl, with sludgy riffs, ominous bass, and unnerving leads in a mesmerising outro coda. First single and the most direct track here; ‘Throatsaw’ is pure aggression with a punk fuelled attitude and execution. ‘No Mortal Left Alive’ is all anxious and jarring riffage with a pulsing drum and bass foundation, and the outro is like souls wailing from the tomb. Even more disturbing is ‘Well of Entrails’ and the brutal images it conjures, which are guaranteed to trigger nightmares, Danny and Eric intertwining blood-curdling guitar melodies throughout. The title-track is more of a torniquet to the throat, huge chords resonate with sinew popping tension before a speedy punch to the larynx deals the final death blow. 

Lyrically this is the usual fare, there’s plenty of ridiculous, nightmarish imagery and enough downright terrible tales of gore and ichor to keep any fan of bloodletting happy for many an hour. Personally, it’s the music I’m here for and further into this foul cesspool we have the lethal fury of ‘Toxic Death Fuk’ and the crushing heaviness of ‘Lobotomising Gods’, while the morbidly prophetic ‘Death is the Answer’ is like a short, sharp cut with a razor across the jugular, and as you watch your lifeblood drain away, the slow hypnotizing drone, chugging cruelty and stabbing savagery of ‘Coagulation’ accompanies you blissfully to your untimely end.

This is quite simply an awesome death metal album, old school, but contemporary, ‘Morbidity Triumphant’ easily made my top ten of 2022 and if anything, ‘Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts’ is even better; the creepy parts are creepier, the doom is doomier, and the thrashing heaviness, even more outlandish. After listening to this, I don’t’ think you’d feel any more depraved and filthier, if you butchered your neighbours, dived into the carnage and bathed in the blood of their rotting and rancid remains! Enjoy!

Autopsy, Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts via Peaceville Records on the 27th October 2023