Mental Funeral

by Autopsy

Is it weird to describe a death metal band as beautiful? I mean, it has to be, right? But that's the word that comes to mind when I think of Autopsy.

What I mean by that is that there's so much in their sound that absolutely should not work at all. It's death metal, but it's got this punk underbelly alongside some classic doom metal riffing and then boogie-woogie rock 'n' roll trappings that could, in lesser hands, sound like an absolute fucking mess. Autopsy isn't a mess though; except for the moments where they want to be.

First things first, this record sounds absolutely insane. The drums, and especially the toms, sound almost interchangeable from one another. It almost sounds like Chris Reifert is pounding on pelts made from roadkill instead of actual drums. This says nothing of his vocals, perhaps the best there have ever been. Gurgling, bubbly vocals that sound like a particularly torturous bowel evacuation.

Then there's Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles, a guitar duo who are so intertwined that when they spin off into those creepy little leads, you can't help but smile with joy. While this record doesn't have Steve DiGiorgio's fretless bass playing that made Severed Survival so exceptional, I actually think Steve Cutler is the better fit for Mental Funeral. He plays things a little more straight, and with the production choices—which, again, are basically keeping things as lo-fi as possible—it sounds like his strings are sagging off his fretboard. When I close my eyes, I just picture a bass that's barely able to articulate coherent notes from how much slack is coming off the strings.

I say this again: None of this shit should work. A doom-laden song with a swinging backbeat like "In The Grip Of Winter" should be so corny you laugh and walk out of the room. Instead, it's so sinister and outright creepy that you get the sense this could only ever be made by these people at this exact moment in time. That's beautiful. The lyrics "On their limp carcasses / I leave a token of my disgust" are, in their own unique way, also beautiful.

Many have tried to replicate this distinct mixture that Autopsy created. Many of these attempts are good, some are even great, but there is only one Autopsy. We are lucky to have existed on this same timeline as them.