CD review AUTOPSY ‘Live in Chicago’

If you could choose a running time for a death metal album, what would you go for. I guess that 66 minutes is a pretty good choice. Autopsy’s newest strike features death metal hymns, rolled out precisely over one hour and six minutes.

Anyhow, the death metal veterans from Oakland, California played a show at Reggie’s Rock Club on March 7th this year and although we are only seven months further, the release feels like a musical blast from the past. 18 songs have been played that night in Chicago and right before the lockdown put all shows to rest.

Benefiting from an authentic and powerful sound, Autopsy shows why they are such an important player in the fields of death metal. The main focus of this show was on the early days, an oldschool set if you will. Seven songs, taken from the debut from 1989, are a deadly treat for Autopsy fans that appreciate Autopsy’s meat-cleaver riffs from the beginning. The primal intensity of death metal can be found in each of these massive tunes, all made for beer-soaked slam pits.

Besides all the early Autopsy highlights, a new song creeped into the setlist. ‘Maggots in the Mirror’ is an uptempo death metal smasher, a wild ride with no brakes. The intention of this new track is to be the bridge and teaser for a new Autopsy album, that hopefully comes quickly. With such a positive outlook in mind, it’s the snail-paced ‘Burial’, taken from the latest studio album, continuing a live show that finds with ‘Fuck You’ an fast-paced ending.

Autopsy clearly shows with this album that they are still going strong. These guys are not on the shelf, they are present loudly as we know the band since 33 years.