Autopsy: Morbidity Triumphant (2022)

I can’t be the only one who thought we would never see another Autopsy album, given it had been eight years since the release of ‘Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves’, but they are back, boy are they back. They may have lost bassist Joe Allen, who has been replaced by Greg Wilkinson (who plays with Chris in Static Abyss) but guitarists Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles are there, as they were more than 30 years ago, while at the drumming and vocal helm is the legend who is Chris Reifert. Reifert has rarely put a foot wrong since appearing on Death’s ‘Scream Bloody Gore’, but there are some releases which are more important that others, for multiple reasons, and this is one of those.

The band have stopped and started a few times, and they have periods of intense activity before taking another break, so let us hope that this is the dawn of a new era for the band as this is brutal death with nods to both doom and grind, with hardcore aggression thrown in there for good measure. The guys may not be getting any younger but with this release they are yet again stamping their presence on the throats of the death metal genre and making a huge statement. Reifert is a demon on the drums, yet also provides plenty of finesse, Wilkinson is locked in as he is used to playing with Chris, and then we have Eric and Danny bringing the storm as they have ever since first becoming a partnership back in 1988. On the top of that we have the growls and aggression, yet the band also move into areas which at times are almost black metal as they bring in emotion and atmosphere which means that when they ram it down again the contrast makes the sound even more dynamic.

Autopsy are back with an album which shows they mean business, and let us hope we do not have to wait eight years for the next one!

Rating: 8/10