AUTOPSY — Skull Grinder (review)

AUTOPSY — Skull Grinder album cover EP · 2015 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
I knew "Severed Survival" was probably the Autopsy album to get but I had recently found that many "classic" and "influencial" albums were also the most expensive. Also, the sound quality of more recent albums was often better than the old school classics. So, in the case of Autopsy, I decided to sample listen to a few albums and pick the one that sounded best and that was also not too expensive. It's no surprise then that the album I ordered was also an EP, explaining why it was cheaper than others.

Thus, "Skull Grinder", the band's most recent release to date from what I can see on MMA, became my introduction to this death metal band that also skirt the edges of death / doom.

Things I like: Chris Reifert's merciless and unappologetic gravel-throated vocals, which are not entirely unitelligible; the guitar sound and some of the monster heavy riffs; the mad drumming by Chris Reifert; and the speed changes within songs.

A lot of death metal bands are about blasting through at high speeds with little time to slow down and stomp on your feet and boot your hiney a few times. Autopsy easily blast you with speed and aggression and then pull back and paddle you silly.

There are two short tracks on this release: "Sanity Bleeds" and "Return to Dead". The first is slower with a simple guitar melody and no drums. Reifert bellows like some diabolical warlord and then we get lots of crazy guitar effects. I can't say that this is one worth stand-alone play. "Return to Dead" comes on sounding like a horror movie theme song done by a metal band. It's got this eerie, demented-sounding melody. More wailing, crazy guitar effects enhance the aura of madness. Again, not a fav but interesting.

The other five tracks, though, sound awesome. Just straightforward Autopsy-style death metal. I might be mistaken but I think they have used some wah-wah on a couple of tracks which almost gives the guitar a retro feel. A possible favourite is "Waiting for the Screams" because it has one of those spine-chilling, doom metal riffs.

My only disappointment is that the album is just an EP. I would have loved a full album of songs like the five that are over three minutes. Now I have two Autopsy albums and I'll surely be checking out a third sometime in the not too distant future.
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