Autopsy– The Headless Ritual (Peaceville Records)
Though they're a well-regarded staple within their particular genre, even those who've never heard Autopsy could pretty much take one look at The Headless Ritual and know more or less exactly what to expect. The band is many things – definers of a genre, torch-bearers helping keep a certain era of that genre alive, defiers of subtlety at any cost – and every element that characterizes them is placed front and center on their newest effort. From the grotesque Joe Pentagno cover art to the song and album titles, the gore-minded bludgeoning they've been peddling on and off since 1987 is decidedly present and accounted for and, while it's certainly not as groundbreaking as Severed Survival, it's easily the best thing they've done since their 2008 reformation.
Death metal fans who have solely immersed themselves in the genre's more recent incarcations might find Autopsy somewhat of an anachronism. They engage in none of the hyper-technicality of certain facets of the style, none of the melodic tendencies of the more crossover-minded bands, none of the overly clean digital recordings that have plagued pretty much every corner of the style. Instead the band tends to alternate between a brisk thrash tempo and extended sludgy doom passages. But despite there not being much in the way of blastbeats or especially intricate musicianship present, the solid songwriting carries the album, never letting it stagnate.
While a few short detours in their sound exist – the mid-tempo quasi-catchiness of “She Is A Funeral” or “Thorns And Ashes” aren't exactly an outlier, but not far from it - the qualities that have rendered Autopsy distinct in a sea of imitators are still very much intact. Drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert still possesses a yowl that's considerably more expressive and menacing than the standard death metal grunting and growling, the emphasis is still placed on warm-sounding analog recordings that sound like a few dudes playing in a room together rather than some crisp, soulless digital construction, and the music itself is still performed with a forceful clarity.
While it would be easy to write Autopsy off as a throwback to some bygone era of their genre, what they do serves an important purpose within it. They not only hearken back to an era when death metal bands possessed (pun probably not intended) distinct sounds, but they attempt to extend that into a present tense that witnesses very little of that. Just as they led by example in their early years, they continue to do so by emphasizing the manner in which bands like this can continue to hone their craft decades after their inception, gradually evolving and shedding excess without betraying the elements that made them great in the first place. Though it will likely prove too rough and too macabre for most, anybody with even a passing interest in this type of music should consider this, and almost every other Autopsy album, essential.