AUTOPSY — Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (review)

AUTOPSY — Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves album cover Album · 2014 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves" is the 7th full-length studio album by US death metal act Autopsy. The album was released through Peaceville Records in April 2014. It´s only been a year since the release of "The Headless Ritual (2013)", but Autopsy were never known to rest on their laurals. By now with three post-comeback studio albums under their belt, Autopsy are just one studio album away from being more active now than they were when initially active in the late eighties/early nineties. Their comeback to the scene has arguably been a success and they have taken full advantage of that and with "Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves" continue to ride on the waves of that success. The "comeback" lineup is still intact with Chris Reifert on drums and vocals, Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles on guitars and Joe Allen on bass.

Stylistically the music on "Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves" more or less continues down the same filthy old school US death metal path as the band also played on "Macabre Eternal (2011)" and "The Headless Ritual (2013)". The four studio albums the band released before they disbanded in the mid-nineties all featured a different sound and musical style, but it seems that Autopsy have decided to go for a more consistent style after their comeback. The style they play now is most similar to how to "Mental Funeral (1991)" sounds if you compare them to the early releases by the band.

If you´re familiar with Autopsy and their output it´ll be no surprise that as a listener you´re exposed to filthy old school death metal riffing, raw doomy sections, the occasional nod towards punk, horror/gore lyrics and cover artwork, organic drumming, a raw and earthy sound production, rot filled growling vocals and the occasional use of twisted morbid harmony guitars. They were a seminal act in the creation of this subgenre of death metal and they are arguably still the kings of the genre.

When that is said I struggle to call the material on "Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves" as great as the material on it´s direct predecessor. The quality of the material are as usual high, but the album as a whole still has a bit of "by the numbers" feeling about it. It isn´t until the 9th track on the album, the atmospheric "Deep Crimson Dreaming" kicks in, that I feel that the band have tried something new. That feeling fortunately continues on the next two tracks "Parasitic Eye" and "Burial", which are also both among the standout tracks on the album. But it doesn´t erase the overall impression of an album by Autopsy that´s occasionally slightly uninspired and a bit too safe too. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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