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Puncturing the Grotesque, the latest entry in Autopsy's rich discography, offers 23 minutes of pure mayhem, evilness and tales of gore divided into six songs and a Bloodbath cover with a twist ("Fuck You!!!").

Some moments of inspired lunacy and brainless aggressiveness can be found throughout the extended play, like on "Gas Mask Lust" and "Corpses at War", while dragged parts mixed with visceral elements are also plenty, especially on the vicious "Gorecrow", best tune here. The duo Reifert/Cutler, as always, dictates the rhythm with their crazy ways, even adding some stoner and raw Rock 'n' Roll elements in selected riffs and verses.

The EP remains constant and flows nicely most times, but I couldn't help but notice some hiccups along the way. When the band changes too much of its formula – which happens only once or twice – they tend to tone down on the rawness and this ends up making the music sound and feel underwhelming. This sort of discrepancy will surely twist the nose of the more demanding fan, especially those purists who use Severed Survival (1990) and Mental Funeral (1991) as bibles.

Puncturing the Grotesque serves as a great appetizer to what's coming in Autopsy's career. Not too short to go unnoticed, but not too long to be discarded as annoying, the EP is yet another fine display of old school American Death Metal and definitely a statement to those bands that end up trying too much to sound relevant and serious.