Autopsy was formed in August 1987 by Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler, shortly after Reifert's departure from Death. The band recorded a demo that year, Demo '87, before Danny Coralles joined in 1988 immediately prior to the recording of their second demo, Critical Madness, and along with Reifert and Cutler, would be a constant in the band's lineup. The band signed to Peaceville Records and released their debut album, Severed Survival in 1989. These early recordings featured a straightforward thrash-influenced death metal style in a similar vein to Scream Bloody Gore era Death (Reifert was Death's drummer on that album), but the band adopted a slower, doom metal influenced sound for their next release, the 1990 Retribution for the Dead EP. The next full-length, Mental Funeral, continued in this style and has since been cited by many other death metal musicians (particularly in the Swedish scene) as particularly influential. Having completed a successful European tour soon after Mental Funeral, the band reentered the studio to record the Fiend for Blood EP, which was followed by their third full-length, Acts of the Unspeakable, which featured shorter songs and a more grindcore influenced sound. A difficult US tour in 1993 led to the decision to disband Autopsy after the recording of a final album. Shitfun, released in early 1995, was heavily influenced by hardcore punk and would prepare fans for Abscess, previously a side project of Danny Coralles and Chris Reifert which would become their main band after Autopsy's demise.
Autopsy was featured in the 2005 music documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey when the film's narrator and star, Sam Dunn read aloud a verse from the band's song "Charred Remains".
Frontman Chris Reifert contributed a recipe for Mummified Jalapeño Bacon Bombs to Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook, by Annick Giroux (Bazillion Points Books).
After several years of speculation regarding an Autopsy reunion, and denial of the possibility, the band members briefly reunited in September 2008 to record two new tracks for the special edition of their 1989 debut Severed Survival. They later reconvened to the Maryland Deathfest in 2009. Following Abscess splitting up in June 2010, Autopsy immediately announced that they had permanently reunited. They released a new EP, The Tomb Within, in September 2010 and Macabre Eternal, their first studio album in 16 years, in 2011.
Along with fellow Bay Area band Possessed and Reifert's previous group Death (which Chuck Schuldiner relocated to Reifert's Bay Area hometown of Concord in 1986), Autopsy have been considered a pioneering band in the death metal and Doom/Death genres. Early genre stalwarts like Entombed, Dismember, Gorefest, Immolation, Cannibal Corpse and Deicide have all credited Autopsy as an influence in their sound.
-Tracklist:
01. Dead 02:58
02. Fiend for Blood / Spinal Extractions 01:04
03. Twisted Mass of Burnt Decay 02:15
04. Deathtwitch 02:23
05. Slaughterday 04:07
06. Fleshcrawl / Torn from the Womb 03:50
07. Charred Remains 03:45
08. Shit Eater 02:20
09. Pus / Rot 04:30
10. Gasping for Air 02:39
11. Severed Survival 03:00
12. Hole in the Head 05:22
13. Fleshcrawl / Torn from the Womb 03:38
14. Fiend for Blood 00:40
15. Service for a Vacant Coffin 02:55
16. Embalmed 03:02
17. Destined to Fester 04:14
18. Robbing the Grave 03:48
19. Charred Remains 03:33
01:00:03
-Line up:
• Chris Reifert : Vocals, Drums
• Eric Cutler : Guitars
• Danny Coralles : Guitars
• Steve Cutler : Bass
• Freeway : Bass on 1993 Live.
Label: Necroharmonic Productions.
Contains the live recordings from the Tortured Moans Of Agony double 7" (1-8) and the Live From The Grave bootleg LP (11-19).
Live 91 + 93 is printed on the disc and Live Live In 91+93 is printed on the tray inlay.
Tracks "Pus/Rot" and "Gasping For Air" (track 9 and track 10) are not appearing on Tortured Moans Of Agony but were obviously recorded on the same show.
This bootleg contains rare live tracks. The title 'Dead as Fuck' kinda sounds 'Gay as Fuck'.
Tracks 1-10: recorded live at Bonnie's Alco, NJ, May 16, 1993.
Tracks 11-19: recorded live at the Waters Club, San Pedro, CA, March30, 1991.
Remastered at Primitive Recordings Studios by Roger Beaujard.
Cover art: Dennis Dread.
Layout: Daryl Kahan.
Photography: Kurt Hubert.
Info from booklet (as printed):
"Tortured Moans Of Agony" Double 7" ep
Recorded Live at Bonnie's
Alco, NJ on 5/16/93
Limited to 500 copies on green + yellow wax.
Second pressing limited to 500
on purple + red wax.
"Live From The Grave"
Originally released on LP
Recorded Live at The Waters Club
San Pedro, California 3/ 30 / 91.
Production Errors:
Track "Spinal Extractions" comes after "Fiend For Blood" (track 2) - not mentioned on the cover (not here nor on the original Tortured Moans Of Agony 2x7").
Tracks "Fleshcrawl" and "Torn From The Womb" (track 6) are fused together as on Mental Funeral album but without separate indexing (only difference is when "Tortured Moans Of Agony" lists tracks separately then "Dead As Fuck" as one using hyphen (-) between titles).
Track "Torn From The Womb" (originally on Live From The Grave and here track 13) is listed on back cover without "Fleshcrawl" prior to it as on original release.