Fit For An Autopsy started peeling away from the rest of the pack on 2015’s Absolute Hope Absolute Hell. That album was their first to feature current vocalist Joe Badolato, and saw the New Jersey innovators, led by esteemed guitarist-producer, Will Putney, stretch the boundaries of deathcore, incorporating melodic textures, technical virtuosity, and emotive themes into their slam attack. They took that growth to even further heights on 2017’s The Great Collapse and 2019’s excellent The Sea Of Tragic Beasts. So, with the gauntlet laid down and a standard set that’s way beyond the capabilities of many of their contemporaries, the expectations going into the band’s sixth album are vertiginous.
Oh What The Future Holds surpasses them all. First single Far From Heaven set the scope months ago, escalating from an expansive, Gojira-influenced build-up and a murmured clean vocal into a storm of ominous riffs and monstrous groove. It was followed by Pandora, an onslaught of triple-guitar Gothenburg riffery that saw Joe, by now cemented as one of the most diverse, intense vocalists in the game, unleashing hell on the rich who unceasingly shaft the rest of the planet (‘It’s never “too many graves”. It’s always “not enough shovels”’ and ‘A world driven by extinction, only ends in extinction’). It was completed by an almost serene solo and a filth-encrusted breakdown tighter than a gnat’s arse.
The rest of the album follows suit, shifting and twisting, never falling into repose. From Savages’ ironclad technicality, and Conditional Healing’s nefarious intent, to the serpentine closer, The Man That I Was Not, every track sets a benchmark for modern barbarity. On Oh What The Future Holds, Fit For An Autopsy are in career-defining form, gleefully taking the reinvention of their previous releases to a dark, emotional, thought-provoking and crushing culmination. It’s their most accomplished album yet.
Oh What The Future Holds is out January 14 via Nuclear Blast
