With a name like "Autopsy," spelled out in a blood-dripping logo, there shouldn't be much doubt about what sort of music can be expected. This is death metal. It does, however, have some twists of its own. What you get is a mix of the early 90s American death metal style purveyed by bands like Deicide, mixed with some doom metal atmosphere and tempos reminding at times of bands like Candlemass and Winter. This could naturally result in one impressively trite and useless album, but quite the opposite is true. This is one of the truly supreme death metal albums of the early 90s. Everything from the guttural vocals, killer riffs and quite good song-structures fits together perfectly, making an album that truly stands as a single unit. The band won't really impress you with their instrumental prowess, but they get the job done very well. If anything, the album's atmosphere might have suffered if everyone played at a sterile precision.

The production here serves the album well. The instruments all sound very sludgy, like one big mass of a sound. The drums are given a bit sharper sound so there is no problem with them overpowering the twin-guitar attack. The riffs have a fair range, some being very Black Sabbath-like, whilst other go into some quite original riff-patterns that many modern-day death metal bands seem to be trying to mimic. Vocals are the basic, fairly guttural growls that are to be expected from the genre, but it is possible to make out most of the lyrics if one tries. The lyrics are, however, not much to be bragged about. The songtitles pretty much give you the idea of what to expect. Still, how can one possibly not be swooned by catchy rhymes like "Peel your flesh from the bone/Soulless body left alone"?

The closest comparison I can think of is Amorphis' Tales From the Thousand Lakes, but without the keyboards and the occational cheery melodic riffs that popped by every now and then on that album. The overall feeling of the album is quite similar though, with the way it feels like a death metal album, yet gives off the emotions of a doom metal album.

If you have even a remote interest in death metal you should definitely take the chance to pick up this album. It's not the most brutal or technical release out there, but it makes up for it by building one strong, almost overpowering nihilistic atmosphere. Mental Funeral indeed...

Review by Øystein H-O

Review date: 02/2001

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