Rising up from the bile-filled swamp that is modern day deathcore, NJ’s own Fit For An Autopsy are putting in their own claim for ground-shifting mosh dominance with their follow-up to ‘13’s ‘Hellbound’. Though it’s not all breaky d’s and blasty b’s you can expect from ‘Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell’.
With a thickly progressive bow tied round its writhing, hard-hitting body, the title track kicks things with a level of ferocity many a band struggle to create before ‘Wither’ delivers an off key punch to the spine with stalking riffs and gut busting malice. Rather than just dealing out as much mosh as they could in half an hour, which more times than not makes for a scrappy and tedious listen, Fit For An Autopsy have put their all into ‘Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell’ and attempted to expand their sound out of the self-made deathcore barriers.
‘Murder In The First’ splutters out black metal-style drumming and loosely ambient leads, while ‘Ghosts In The River’ and ‘Mask Maker’ sparkle with moments of arena-bothering vocals. Though as a whole product an album this hefty could get a bit too hot and heavy for its own good, the band have a precise control over their output and deliver their ferocity in a way which doesn’t become stagnant and grating. As the unrelenting riffing of ‘False Positive’ and the thought-provoking shift of pace of ‘Swing The Axe’ sees things out in defiant style, it’s possible a new blueprint for heavy music may have just been forged.
As chaotic as it is controlled, and as uncomforting as it is darkly beautiful, ‘Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell’ is as complete a package as you can get from deathcore. With enough complexity and brute force to please even the sternest of metal purists and the right sprinkling of frenzied vulgarity to keep things sweet, Fit For An Autopsy have fine-tuned their noise to reach out to the furthest corners of the extreme metal scene and feel like they haven’t even broken a sweat.
4/5
‘Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell’ by Fit For An Autopsy is out now on eOne Heavy.
Fit For An Autopsy links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Jack Rogers (@JackMRog)
