Autopsy is a band that understands itself. Like spiritual death metal brethren Cannibal Corpse, the band has core musical, thematic and visual staples you can almost always depend on (the poo-chomping album cover of Shitfun being an outlier). Think Autopsy, think the evil, Black Sabbath-inspired tri-tones, pulverising percussion, slow, menacing crawls blended with charging gallops, malevolent guitar lines, bowel-loosening bass, squealing bursts of lead guitar and rasping vocals, all tied up in a bloody bow of bodies being monstrously torn to pieces.
We all know that Autopsy has a legendary status within death metal and need no introduction to the genre and all metallers; they have inspired and ignited a sea of subsequent bands over the years since their formation in 1987 and arguably more so their demise in 1995 to seal their place in metal’s Hall of Fame. The Californians constantly ignite an instinctive blood fuelled fire with their gore soaked aural exploits and it is fair to say that The Headless Ritual, their sixth album and second since reuniting in 2009, is no deviation to their violent creativity.