You know, the hardest part of this column here is looking for clever things to write in my intro (ignore the fact that it’s pretty squawking hard to type with your beak).
Dust the crust, the oh-so-filthy AUTOPSY are back at it again with Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves on Peaceville. If you’re a fan, prepare to be stoked. They came back with a bang, and they are still banging, filthy death metal passages slammed next to the doomy death they do so well. Refiert’s vocals sound disgusting, and the production here is killer; there’s clarity and separation of the instruments without sounding sterile. This is a dark slab, a la The Headless Ritual, and you can definitely tell that there may have been some leftover material from those sessions, but absolutely no throwaways. I feel the solos actually stick out a little more than normal, or maybe they are just a step up, but they rip. If you love what Autopsy does, this will not disappoint. Check out the titular “Autopsy”: sums everything up in a nice, neat, albeit bloody package. 8 Fucking Pecks.
The classic band FLOOR release Oblation on Season of Mist, and well, it’s Floor. This is one of those amalgams that sounds a bit like old Floor and a bit like WAY old Floor. This thing is SUPER down-tuned and at times beautiful and poppy, and while there is some great material here, there is also a feeling of redundancy. This isn’t a stiff retreading of the O.G. stuff, and while there are nods to two separate aspects of Floor’s past, there are nods to what could become of them, potentially a new direction not that unsimilar to Steve Brooks’ other band, Torche. This is good, though, but you know the comparison cannot be ignored. I like it. Heavy, doomy, pretty and poppy. 6 Fucking Pecks.
Keeping on with the theme here, WINGER — you know, THAT Winger — are putting out Better Days Comin’. I’m going to ignore the “wings” puns and obvious stupid references that I could make here and… well, you like this type of stuff? Do I even NEED to tell you what it’s about? This isn’t horrible, but has that “sounds like an old band that you know isn’t that old band anymore” sound. There are some hard-rockin’ tunez on this, but overall, who the hell is going to buy it? If you CAN’T GET ENUFF and were ONLY 17 when they first came out, you’ll be HEADED FOR A HEADACHE with this one. Whatever, not that they were ever cool in the first place, and any metalhead to tell you they were is lying. Better Days Comin’? Or Better Days Been Had? Or are they just “wingin’ it”? Allow me to be the judge here for you: Stay away. 2 Fucking Pecks.
