Peaceville Records
Out Now
Words by Jimmy Glinster
What better way to spend the Queen’s Birthday holiday than reviewing a death metal album. Well, I could think of many better things to do while celebrating the dead. On seconds thoughts, though, this is actually quite fitting, as is the fact that the Queen’s Birthday holiday conveniently lands the day after the NRL Grand Final. Not that we give a fuck about the footy anyway, we’re just here for the riffs.
And the riff masters this time around are Autopsy who need no introduction, even to people like me that generally don’t give a fuck about Death Metal. The new album is titled Morbidity Triumphant, and I’m hoping it is both morbid and triumphant. Let’s see then, shall we …
First impressions, this sounds like it’s recorded in a cereal box, which I guess is quite fitting for one of the pioneers of death metal. Remember the good old days when death metal albums all sounded like they were recorded on a Tascam Four Track Cassette Recorder, because they were? Yeah, well, Autopsy have somehow recreated that magic … perfectly.
Probably with a Tascam Four Track Cassette Recorder.
Oh, and by the way, the first track playing while I was writing that last paragraph was called Stab the Brain and it was classic death metal.
The next track is titled Final Frost, which may or may not be a part of the lyrics. I can’t confirm though because I can’t understand a fucking word that’s being growled, screamed or wallowed. The track gets a bit doomy before propelling into madness for a few short bursts of insanity. This is pretty brutal shit to be honest, I may need to listen to the new Slipknot after this for some relaxing easy listening.
The Voracious One kicks off with a blues-based riff that would more commonly be heard in the recent burst of stoner/doom/southern/beer bands currently making noise across stages worldwide. It doesn’t last long, though, and shit gets pretty heavy again. They do return to the southern groove throughout the song regularly, which softens the brutality a little.
Next up is Born in Blood which again takes on a doom feel, a slower less rocky one. It’s a bit fucking boring to be honest, but I think that about most doom/stoner riffs. It does pick up though and gets a bit crazy with some speedy bursts of guitar solos interwoven into the brutality.
I’m not exactly sure what is happening in the intro to Flesh Strewn Temple, but it’s interesting to say the least. It kind of sounds like a riff that a high school garage band would come up with and think it’s the tits. It’s not the tits though, it’s fairly well flat chested. Let’s just call it the itty-bitty death titty committee. A couple of thrash moments later in the song luckily provide some tissues for the training bra.
The opening riff to Tapestry of Scars somehow actually sounds like tapestry as it weaves in and out of itself. The rest of the song seems to get lost and twisted up within the loom though and doesn’t really make any sense. If this is actually a tapestry, I reckon the end product would look more like the vomit on your sweater from mom’s spaghetti.
Knife Slice Axe Chop pretty well sums up what this song sounds like. Classic death metal name, and a classic death metal sound with its fast brutality. It is pretty unrelenting until the bass takes over for a slow doom interlude which kind of loses my interest instantly. Lucky though, they stop fucking around pretty quickly and get back into some fucking thrashing death metal.
Bass Solo take 1, well it almost was for at least 8 bars anyway. Skin By Skin is the name, and slow and dooming is the game. And on that note, I’m going to skip to something that’s hopefully a little more exciting.
Following that sneaky Slipknot reference earlier, the band follows suit and drops a track called Maggots In The Mirror. It’s a full-blown thrasher which grabs my attention and drags me into its shallow valley of riffs. And then after 1:43 seconds it fucks off leaving me high and dry and wanting more.
After reading a little more about this band, I’ve discovered that they are actually well known for pioneering the doom sound which is now quite common in death metal. Slaughter of Souls shows off their doom side initially and just as I’m about to fuck off to the next track due to immense boredom, the band picks up the pace to a faster thrashier death metal feeling. I much prefer this band when they pick up the pace. The riffs are strong on this one!
Your Eyes Will Turn to Dust is the closing track, and unfortunately, it dooms pretty fucking hard. Again though, the band stops fucking around, wakes up and kicks into some groove infused thrash style riffs and solos. The song itself doesn’t make much sense, but I don’t think it needs to. It’s just a death metal track, and that’s all it needs to be.
Well, I didn’t fucking love this album, but I also definitely didn’t fucking hate it! Fans of old school Death Metal will fucking love it, fans of modern death metal or death core, probably won’t. But who gives a fuck about the core kids anyway, ya bunch of ear stretching, kung-fu fighting, breakdown biding dungeons and dragons nerds.
Yeah, I went there, but at least I left Tool alone this time around. They are just lucky this album didn’t get that boring!
