Autopsy – Macabre Eternal

It has been almost two years since the legendary Autopsy,one of the most influential death metal bands,decided to reunite after almost 15 years and give it another go.I reckon that after the release of their excellent ‘The tomb within’ EP,which displayed a lot of potential,many people were eagerly waiting for the full length.Pretty much everybody is familiar with their past offerings and if we take this into consideration,the expectations are to be fairly high!In the end,the only question is,does Autopsy still have something to offer in today s metal scene?
After a thorough listen,I m pretty glad to say that Autopsy have done it once again,and in an extremely convincing manner!It would be safe to say that this is a direct continuation of their previous works,but also a logical evolution of their sound!Almost all the elements that characterized their sound are present,including some new touches added in for more flavor.The songs display a mixture of tempos,ranging from mid paced themes to faster all out assaults and slower,doomlike passages reminiscent of their Mental Funeral cd.What is also evident is the presence of Abscess style-punkish rhythms,something  rather inevitable as almost all members were a part of that band until 2010.
The most important thing about this album is that it brings back good old memories from when this band used to produce the most abominable music ever!The atmosphere on this one is as morbid as ever and it still creates images of decay,rottenness and depravity without much effort.Furthermore,the lyrical content keeps getting more and more sinister,revolving around such ‘sweet’ topics,like insanity,rotting corpses and death,with the song ‘Dirty Gore Whore’ being the most depraved one,as it speaks of a madman that gets a woman to be his own ‘toy’ through torture.
Chris Reifert’s vocals are worthy of special praise on this one!His voice may not sound as deep and monstrous as it did in the past,but he proves that he still has lots of aces up his sleeve!He uses death growls, a more whispering-chilling voice at slower parts and a shouty-punkish one at times.His performance is stellar,as he always knows how to give an extra something to the songs.Moreover,his drumming skills are of no doubt once more,and with the other members also giving their best,all I can speak of is that we are talking about some serious ass kicking here!
However,there are two flaws that I need to point out.I reckon that the way too clean production subtracts a part of the feeling of decay that is always essential for such a record.Taking into account that their previous EP had the muddy feeling it deserved,it gets even more disappointing.The second weakness is the duration of the songs,as some of them (and especially the 11 minute ‘Sadistic Gratification’) seem to drag on for ever and repeat the same tempo for more time than needed.I think that if it all came down to 50 minutes (or less),it would have been much more interesting.
The conclusion is that Autopsy have managed to offer us yet another skullcrushing record, which in my opinion is easily one of the best extreme releases for 2011 (if not the top) and shouldn’t be missed by anyone into death metal or morbid music in general.