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Autopsy – Morbidity Triumphant

autopsy – morbidity triumphant

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Introducing Autopsy to a VM-Underground reader is like explaining Star Wars to a sci-fi enthusiast. Useless, then, so we won’t do that. There is, however, no denying of the band’s immense influence and associated legendary status, and with this ninth album, they’ve now also released more during this second coming than during their classic period between 1987 and 1995: that’s something to think about.

Although I was far from equally charmed by all the ‘new’ Autopsy albums and I sometimes even was downright disappointed, my respect for the band and its legacy stands proud. Initially, I was quite appreciative of the reunion, the ‘Horrific Obsession’ 7″ EP (2009) and ‘The Tomb Within’ 12″ EP (2010) were a respectable return of the much beloved band. After that, to be fair, it was nothing more than ‘ordinary’ Death Metal, the riffs in particular seemed a bit uninspiring and vocally they sounded pretty jaded, the age monster seemed to have made its appearance after all. And, maybe I should be honest to myself as well, listening back to those aforementioned first EP’s makes me think that I might have let myself get carried away by my enthusiasm that Autopsy was back and less by the quality of the music that was on offer.

To a large extent, the same applies to this new album, ‘Morbidity Triumphant’. It doesn’t reach the intensity and rabid energy of ‘Severed Survival’ in light years. That in itself is no disgrace and, of course, that expectation is not realistic to begin with, but as with the previous albums, it is instinctively so far away from that classic sound that an overall disappointment still prevails. However, ‘Morbidity Triumphant’ can be seen as one of the better post-reunion albums, presenting us with very decent riffs, just listen to ‘Born In Blood’ for instance. However, the slow, sludge-like riffs in songs like ‘The Voracious One’ or ‘Knife Slice, Axe Chop’ continue to niggle and rub against mediocrity. Making it impossible for ‘Morbidity Triumphant’ to get beyond the borders of averageness.

While there are many people feasting on today’s Autopsy, the somewhat unsteady feeling still lingers with me. Looking back objectively at the band’s now long career, I think that their legend status could have been better preserved than it is now. The question is whether a reunion was really a good idea, because, honestly, by now the band has long since been surpassed by its followers and doesn’t deliver much more than what you might call middle-of-the-road Death Metal.