Chris Reifert’s legendary death metal outfit Autopsy return after a 7-year gap in albums with Morbidity Triumphant. As the band’s drummer/vocalist, Reifert has always existed in a unique space for this exact reason. There just aren’t too many bands that do this on a rare basis, let alone still going after eclipsing 35 years.
Bassist Greg Wilkinson joins the fray after having served as a producer on Autopsy’s Puncturing The Grotesque EP in 2017 as well as joining forces with Reifert earlier this year with his own band, Static Abyss’ debut album, Labyrinth Of Veins.
With Autopsy you are typically going to get a fair amount of doom with your death metal and Morbidity Triumphant is certainly heavy on those moments on “Final Frost” and “Skin By Skin” with the guitars plodding along while Reifert growl and bashes the skins with the longtime rhythm section of Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles providing ample footing for the massive sounds that Autopsy often feature on their albums.
“Born In Blood” moves at a bit of a faster pace than a good portion of the album before itself succumbing to the Sabbathian crawl with a good amount of early Trouble in there too, with riffs that give credence to some of Reifert’s more punk efforts with Autopsy like Acts of The Unspeakable as well as his longtime main band, Abscess.
Being one of the harbingers of the death doom genre with an album like Mental Funeral over 30 years ago should give you the idea of Autopsy’s pedigree and significance. Morbidity Triumphant is another play from the book of consistently well written and well played metal that they have played since the genre’s nascent stages.
In 2022 where death metal is again one of the most consistent genres in terms of releases, Autopsy with their simplified play style in comparison to those currently making a name for themselves in the scene, still stands out in overall quality and songwriting. Morbidity Triumphant is one of the best death metal albums of the year.
(released September 28, 2022 on Peaceville Records)
Heavy Music HQ Rating:
Watch Autopsy – “Knife Slice Axe Chop” Video
