Fiend for Blood

Autopsy often preceded their full-length albums with shorter recordings; demos in the early days, EPs once they got signed. These recordings are great. Each one beats its respective, subsequent album in terms of quality and extremity. That means the "Critical Madness" demo is better than the debut album, and the "Retribution for the Dead" EP is better than "Mental Funeral". True to form, "Fiend for Blood" is better than "Acts of the Unspeakable" too. Autopsy changed their sound each time, and seemed to be dipping their toes in the water before plunging in by releasing a full-length. Of course, the first three Autopsy albums are all great, which indicates how awesome these demos and EPs are.

"Fiend for Blood" was recorded near the end of 1991 (released in 1992). The band focused on the more chaotic, and speedier elements of “Mental Funeral” and ran with them. They de-emphasised the Black Sabbath bluesy influences, the proto-death/doom sound and (some) of the melody. The music on this EP is as busy and technically challenging as anything in the band’s catalogue. It consists of four proper songs and two hyper-fast, shorter numbers (more grindcore in spirit than any previous Autopsy material). The big addition is Steve DiGiorgio. He had already played session bass on "Severed Survival", but he gels with the band much better here. He adds a hyper-complex, proggy style that brings the first Sadus album to mind. Enlisting him was a masterstroke. His presence pushes Chris Reifert, Danny Coralles and Eric Cutler out of their musical comfort zones and the result is dynamite. Listen to the crazy solo at the end of "Squeal Like a Pig". This is brilliant stuff.

The band opted to recreate the production aesthetics of "Mental Funeral", an interesting decision. Personally, I like how that album sounded. I like the loud drums and relative lack of guitar distortion. I will admit that it is an odd production, potentially off-putting for people who like death metal to have the maximum degree of crunching heaviness. I admire how Autopsy managed to find this mix again (since they were using a different studio and a different producer). This shows that they were aiming to get this production here, whereas it had presumably been an accident on the previous record. Anyone familiar with “Mental Funeral” will know what to expect. I much prefer this sound to the multitude of identikit death metal productions out there. It has aged well too. You might see this as the precursor to the dry, spacious production on StarGazer's "The Scream That Tore the Sky" (another record with virtuoso bass-playing).

“Fiend for Blood” is near the top of the class for American death metal in 1992. The DiGiorgio-less “Acts of the Unspeakable” doesn’t match this for hyperactive intensity. Few death metal bands were bending the rules as liberally as Autopsy back then. This EP is as progressive as the band ever got. The songs themselves may not be as memorable as the earlier Autopsy records, but this EP is a statement of intent. Autopsy were following their own route regardless of any expectations based on their own past. Chalk this one up as another great Autopsy recording that needs more appreciation.