• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I've had limited exposure to Autopsy – the Dark Crusades DVD from a few years ago and last year's comeback EP The Tomb Within, so this is really all new stuff for me. I've been listening to Macabre Eternal off and on for a couple of months now, and it only recently started to really sink in.

This is quite different from most Death Metal I've listened to over the years. This album may be brand new, but the vibe is very much old school and you get a bit of everything – late 80s/early 90s heavily Thrash-influenced Death Metal takes care of the speedy parts and there aren't any surprise here, but where I found things get interesting was in the slower parts – that's where Macabre Eternal shines in its darkness and vile intents. Very dark, malevolent atmosphere, a mix of horror and suspense that's not unlike "listening to a horror movie" – they provide the atmosphere and lyrics, and your imaginations provides the gory pictures and the thrilling/suspenseful images one would associate with one of those good error movies where the scarier parts are when it's all suspense and no actual visuals.

I found some of the slower, almost doom-like moments reminded me a little of 70s Black Sabbath, or at least their darker, bone-chilling numbers – it's heavier, more modern, but the style is very much similar. Mix this up with the demented lyrics (the vocals are often chilling, but mostly decipherable, by the way), and you get one fucked up album. I couldn't quite find a way to describe it simply until I took a look at the cover art: That and the album title represent exactly what you'll find inside. Bottom line, this is definitely worth checking out.