I’ll be honest: when I first heard Autopsy I wasn’t the biggest fan. I was just breaking myself into death metal at the time and Acts Of The Unspeakable was my first introduction to Chris Reifert’s work outside of the classic Scream Bloody Gore-lineup of Death. That raw, gargling sound of the guitar work and Reifert’s own vocal style took many listens to become accustomed to and finally appreciate. Ever since, I’ve been a fan, naturally following the discography of the now-defunct Autopsy and its present extension Abscess.

Damned And Mummified is a pretty much standard fare for the average Chris Reifert fan. You have the rock n’ roll-tinged mid tempo death metal, Reifert’s hallowing, coarse vocals, and the typical Autopsy/Abscess solo shredding that one comes to expect. The overall feel of the album just exudes oozing disgust: listening to this slab of filth sounds like someone let the town pervert into the county morgue to dissect the month-long rotting corpse of six year-old Susie Wilkins alone… and the pervert has a fetish for six year-old necrophilia. And he also steals parts of the bodies as souvenirs. And pickles them. And fucks them individually.

My favorite song on here is "Caverns Of Hades": it has this impressive groove to it and the best solo on the album, not to mention the best lyrics involving subterranean rot. The only real gripe I can come up with is the lyrics on the song "Tattoo Collector": they just fucking suck. It’s about a guy that collects band tattoos, whoop-dee-fucking-doo. You got the morbid tone of the rest of the album and then you get to this song that sounds like a fucking Ray Bradbury story. It just doesn’t fit as well lyrically.

Damned And Mummified is definitely an album to pick up for any fan of Chris Reifert’s projects, be it Autopsy or The Ravenous. It’s good, rotten old school death metal.

Written By: Necro-tron