Bay Area death-metal band Autopsy, founded in 1987 and split in 1995, have been reunited full-time since 2010, and their 2011 LP Macabre Eternal landed on plenty of year–end best-of lists. Influential but hardly famous in the 90s, Autopsy are now revered as pillars of “old-school” death metal, alongside the likes of Possessed, Terrorizer, Obituary, and Chicago’s own Master. Among other things, “old-school” metal preserves the raw, ragged energy of humans playing instruments in a room—no songwriting in Cubase, no drum triggers, no quantized blastbeats. And because these bands developed their styles before the “death growl” hardened into a template, their vocals have more personality—Autopsy drummer and singer Chris Reifert sounds simultaneously enraged and agonized, delivering lyrics whose stubborn, gleeful fixation on mayhem and gore seems just as perfectly engineered to trigger a moral panic among the humorless as 50s horror comics did. This winter the band released the compilation All Tomorrow’s Funerals, and the DVD Born Undead is due in June. For this week’s Artist on Artist, Reifert is interviewed by guitarist Scott Carroll of Chicago death-metal stalwarts Cianide, who’ve been active since 1988 but are only now beginning to earn their due as pioneers. This online version of their conversation—more than five times as long as the one in print—touches on the worthlessness of MP3s, the beer-for-remodeling barter economy, why the Devil Wears Prada makes them feel old, and plenty more. Autopsy plays Sat 5/5 at Reggie’s Rock Club with Cianide, Bones, Cardiac Arrest, and Reign Inferno. Tickets are $25; a $60 VIP package includes dinner, a poster, early entry, and a “possible” meet and greet. —Philip Montoro
A Forget the wiser part. Just getting older and dumber. What’s happening, man?
Q It’s all reruns of Walking Dead, so . . .
A Lay it on me, brotha!
Q Let alone an underground death-metal band from the past.
A That’s cool, reading’s lame. Unless you’re reading the Reader! Then it’s great!
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A Exactly. It was fun when we did the two-song thing in 2008—not meant to be anything but that one thing. That was exciting too, but then we kind of put it down again. Then we ended up working something out with Maryland, then we got other offers—like, OK, while we’re at it! So we go to Germany and Norway and do a couple of things over there, and then, that’s it—we’re really done, no more. And then without even thinking about it, we’re like, well, OK, I seem to have written a handful of songs for Autopsy. What’s going on here? Three years later, we’re still slugging away, you know?
