Autopsy Awakened by Gore

Autopsy 'Awakened by Gore' (Nuclear War Now! Productions 2010)

On a Sunday night in September of 1990 Pringle and I sat outside the venue in Calton Road, on the wall beside the car park, and listened to Autopsy and Paradise Lost playing inside. We sat with Lu and Cors, who asked 'Is that a human singing?' when Chris Reifert began growling, and I smoked some fags I'd just found in Waverley Station. I convinced myself, with Pringle's encouragement, that the fags must have been 'injected with AIDS', but luckily this was not the case.

I still have the ticket for the gig, which I must have got at the end of the night, because I certainly didn't see the bands, apart from a few stolen glances from the front door. Unfortunately, we had very limited funds as 16 year olds and had to choose our gigs and records carefully and Autopsy suffered as a result. I don't remember if Pringle had bought 'Lost Paradise' by then or if he bought it after our al fresco night of death, but we tended to buy the Earache and Roadrunner releases and therefore Paradise Lost, who supported on that night, Autopsy and other bands on Peaceville tended to get overlooked.

Knowing how much their seminal debut 'Severed Survival' had influenced huge favourites of ours, like Entombed, and the fact that Chris Reifert had played on Death's debut, 'Scream Bloody Gore', was probably enough to drag us down to 'The Moshpit', but obviously not enough to make us pay to get in! Why we dragged two non plussed young ladies along with us I don't know, I very much doubt it impressed them.

I've since made pilgrimages to Germany, Holland and London, usually with Fray and Finchy in tow, to see the resurrected corpse of Autopsy and they have been magnificent, particularly with Danny Lilker from Nuclear Assault on bass in a muddy Bad Berka field. Autopsy are a band, like At the Gates, whose currency and influence grew after their demise and they can now attract thousands of metallers of a certain age wherever they play. Who'd have thought that we'd end up with enough disposable income to travel the globe to see a band I couldn't even muster up £6 to see 22 years ago.

The difference with Autopsy is that they do not rely entirely on nostalgia. They have returned to the death metal scene as a viable force with an excellent LP, 'Macabre Eternal', and a notable EP and 7 inch. When you see them live they bash out all the classics, but they also play new ones which put recent efforts by their contemporaries to shame.

However, this release is a total nostalgia trip comprising of demos, live recordings and practice recordings. Did I have 99% of these recordings before I bought this release? Yes. Did I have them in an incredible hardback book style folder with poster, sticker, 12 page glossy booklet and mandatory back patch (which is bound to look fetching on my Crombie)? No. This release is beautiful and made even better by coming on 'gold' vinyl with an etched final side. Costly, but worth every penny.

What can you expect from Autopsy demos and rarities? Slow, sludgy, scrappy gore obsessed death metal with proper head nodding tunes. The riffs are catchy and driven by caveman style drumming. Harsh pained vocals veer from growls to yelps and, as always with Autopsy; it's all about the gore. Let it awaken you.

Peace