Cali Death Metal pioneers, Autopsy, have begun streaming a new song from their forthcoming comback effort, Macabre Eternal, over here at Brooklyn Vegan. The song is called "Always Almost Dead," and after one listen, I'm happy to report that it is not dubstep.
Truthfully, your enjoyment of this song, the album, and indeed the entire prospect of an Autopsy reunion, depends entirely on where you stand with your inner metal head. I myself happen to have two of the bastards swimming around in my skull. One is a grizzled veteran who remembers pouring out a beer (legally purchased) when Cliff Burton and Chuck Schulinnder died. The other is other an imaginary sword-swinging, bedroom-bound youngster whose first loves were, Soilwork, Amon Amarth and is now busy with the eager exploration of metal's entire fascinating web.
The veteran hesher finds nothing wrong with this song. He might be a little ruffled by the smoothed edges around the vocals and guitar sound, but just about everything else, including their strong doom-vibes and that obtrusive, chest-caving kick drum, is fully intact.
However, my other buddy's appreciation of early death metal is more academic than musical. His favorite old school death metal album is Resurrection Through Carnage. He thinks Autopsy are awesome, but in the same way a professor thinks protozoan fossils are awesome; the beginnings of far more complex and colorful sounds. He believes that metal's strong culture of idol worship leads to stagnation and hordes of youths strip mining the past with diminishing inspirational return.
Deciding which of these personae you best relate to should help determine whether or not the prospect of new Autopsy gets you excited. Some may see the band as returning heroes, here to teach the sweep-picking masses a thing or two about true evil . Others will find it simply cool, not bad, but less interesting in a world where time has moved on.
