Autopsy – Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts (Review)

I’ll start with the conclusion: This year’s output from death metal legends Autopsy is undoubtedly one of my highlights of 2023. After the first listen to the opener “Rapid Funeral“, I was immediately hooked on this record! The fast and energetic beginning, the simple but powerful riffing and the gripping, atmospheric ending … and that was only the beginning of this 41-minute journey. Without mercy and with plenty of lead on the gas pedal, “Throatsaw” blasts straight on, cutting its way through throats and ear canals until “No Mortal Left Alive” lives up to its name and welcomes the listener as a bleeding bag of bones. This song also played on a continuous loop for me, mainly due to its hypnotic chorus. The slaughter then continues unabated, from the sluggish “Well of Entrails” to the epic title track, which even has some stoner elements, to the worthy finale “Coagulation.” This track then leaves the listener disturbed and exsanguinated with its evocative riffing. All the songs in between are just as worthwhile as the aforementioned ones and are in no way inferior to them. However, you should also have the opportunity to get an unbiased impression.

Even if Autopsy don’t do anything new on their latest output, they do everything right. The entire album works flawlessly from the first to the last second and doesn’t have a single failure, not one bad riff, not one filler. Autopsy simply know what they can do, have remained true to their style and sound and have perfected both over the decades. Is Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts their best album? That’s a matter of opinion. Does it have more disgusting graveyard atmosphere in every single second than some death metal discography put together? Definitely!

I set myself a challenge in November and listened to the album in its entirety at least once a day. It wasn’t always easy, I wasn’t always one hundred percent up for it, but knowing that this beautiful November is forever intertwined with this perfect record in my memory was undeniably worth it.

Autopsy can still do it. They proved that impressively again in 2023.