Photo by Raymond Ahner
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When Autopsy entered Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA, on Super Bowl Sunday to record their comeback album Macabre Eternal, they didn’t have to worry about heavy expectations. The band’s EP The Tomb Within (review) was released last year to near universal praise, allowing them to focus on songwriting. They’d already spent time in the studio recording the EP and several bonus tracks, so it felt like home.
“Around the time of The Tomb Within, we could have cut a full-length record on the spot”, guitarist Eric Cutler said from Fantasy Studios after eight days of recording. “But the EP is nothing like the record. I guarantee you we saved the best stuff. Still, the EP was definitely a tune-up and helped us shake off the rust.”
Longtime fans can expect several treats on the hour-long album, including Autopsy’s first 10-plus minute song “Sadistic Gratification”. “It’s 11 minutes and 33 seconds of pure fucking sickness”, Cutler said. Vocalist/drummer Chris Reifert put aside the microphone on three tracks, allowing Cutler to show off his vocal chops.
“It feels really good, and that made it easy to do 12-hour days”, Cutler said. “Everybody is working for the same thing, and everybody wants the same result. We’re living for what we are doing, and our blood, sweat, and tears are going into this record. The long days are grueling, but it’s worth it because we love it. The feeling and vibe on this record is just right. It feels really heavy”.
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Cutler: “It’s going to be about 68 minutes of brutality”
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Fantasy, located close to the famous punk club 924 Gilman, offered much more polished and professional surroundings than what Autopsy experienced during their early years. “Abscess has recorded here before and had worked with engineer Adam Muñoz”, Cutler said. “So when it was time for us to record, we came here because the relationship just seemed natural. It all started with Adam working with Abscess in a different studio”.
Cutler and co. were also much more experienced musicians with a better grasp of craft. “We’re older, and we realize what we want now”, Cutler said. “When we were young, we just wrote death metal and shot from the hip. But it’s a little different now because we’re more professional and had a game plan coming in”.
Macabre Eternal will be mastered in the Bay Area in the next few weeks. Peaceville will release it in Europe in early June and in the United States several weeks later.
“Our fans can expect no less than our best, the best we have to offer”, Cutler said. “If you like Autopsy, you will think this is the best”.
What about skeptics who claim that all bands say that about comeback albums? “I understand that. But we aren’t doing this just to be nostalgic. This is our best”.
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Macabre Eternal track list
Hand of Darkness
Dirty Gore Whore
Always about to Die
Macabre Eternal
Deliver Me from Sanity
Seeds of the Doomed
Bridge of Bones
Born Undead
Sewn into One
Bludgeoned and Brained
Sadistic Gratification
Spill My Blood
. . .
Holy fucking shit. I cannot contain my joy. This is fucking amazing.
YES!
just to play Devil’s advocate:
There is no such thing as a good 68 minute extreme metal album, and I cannot imagine autopsy holding my interest for a 10 minute song when I listen to them for short bursts of brutality.
Going against the grain opinion: this will be a BAD album with some good songs.
Of course I’m excited about this. I like 10 minute songs but I’m a little surprised that’s coming from Autopsy. It’s pretty cliched to put the long song last (as if we don’t have the attention span. Remember when The Melvins put Hung Bunny first and then put the entire album on a single track to discourage itchy skip fingers? Take that, you impatient fuckers!) so at least it’s second to last… I guess. I’m glad there will be tons of material on the record, as long as there’s no filler.
Also, I’m glad that Cutler normally expresses himself through music…
Wow, Fantasy Studios in Berkeley? Play some Creedence!!!
long song 2nd to last is the classic rock way to do it, ala Zep. of course, that structure makes more sense when you’re doing a 40 minute, 8 song, 2 sided LP.
68 minutes is an assload of death metal. maybe its a throwback to the era of bloated CD running times that was so common in the mid ’90s. i pray the length has to do with extended death/doom sections rather than neverending repetition of the same uptempo riffs… cmon Autopsy, don’t let me down.
Oohh…68 it’s is quite a while. I agree with Wash and I hope it just means more doom, not sons that are way too long. I trust their judgment.
I hope for supreme nastiness but the recording conditions of the old days are what made those albums so fucking good. You cannot fuck with the drum tracks on Mental Funeral, same with the sadistic overdone bass on Severed Survival. I seriously cannot say it enough that I hate the way mainstream-minded-underground metal albums are recorded nowadays and Autopsy are gonna go for the expected “pro” sound, just an evenly squared overly compressed Autopsy sandwich, but whatever, I’m in.
Fuck, I was really hoping for a shorter length album. 68 minutes is a long time to last. Hopefully the long song plays kinda like Cthulhu Fhtagn! from Death Breath. I can definitely take extended doomy groove passages. Either way, this is still without a doubt one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Excited to see how it turns out
Can’t wait for Chaos in Tejas!
im hoping it all rules..im sure most of it will. does seem a little long. and since somebody has to play devils advocate- i gotta admit i was a LITTLE let down by the clean production on the ep
but Autopsy rules,so whatever
“When we were young, we just wrote death metal and shot from the hip.”
….and youre shooting from the hip gave us “severed survival” and “mental funeral”.
Cant wait for the new album though, excited as fuck!!!