Coming from New Jersey Fit For An Autopsy have been going since 2008 with their debut album The Process Of Human Extermination gaining them some traction in the Deathcore scene in 2011. Since then they’ve dropped a whole host of records, evolving their sound over time and incorporating more Metalcore and even Tech elements. I’ve never delved into them greatly but being on a Deathcore kick at the moment it felt like the right time, so here we go let’s review the bands seventh full length The Nothing That Is from Nuclear Blast.

Opening up with Hostage it’s very clear this is Deathcore, a cheeky ‘blegh’ comes in with lashings of chuggy guitars. The vocals are a touch on the Metalcore side for my liking and the clean vocals at points are almost unbearable which is a shame because the more Deathcore portions of the song are actually pretty decent. It should be noted that the guitars aren’t entirely made of chug, there are notes of Tech present which at least adds a bit more depth especially since Fit For An Autopsy aren’t giving off the heaviest vibes. Spoils Of The Horde is next up, a song which so badly wants to be Spheres Of Madness it’s painful. It’s a bit of a better track though with much less god awful cleans, like sometimes the bands clean vocals are fine and other times they are almost Emo and I don’t want that in my Deathcore (and I like Emo). Honestly by the time Savior Of None – Ashes Of All rolls around I’m exhausted by vapid generic ‘Metal’, credit where it’s due though there are flashes of musical brilliance, the guitars in particular and the more Deathcore vocals are great but there just isn’t enough of it. If you’re new on your Metal journey then I have no doubt this would knock you off your feet, however I am not new on my Metal quest. Anyway, yes, Savior Of None has some great heavy Deathcore portions but those hideous cleans rear their ugly head again and it just completely takes me out of the moment. Whilst it’s a bit on the purer Hardcore side Weaker Wolves arises to be one of the better tracks on the album, it’s a song that at least sounds like it has some power and aggression behind it. Giving off more of this aggression is Red Horizon but it somewhat loses a bit of Deathcore in favour of Metalcore, and once again those cleans, I mean seriously I might as well be listening to Architects or something, no thanks.

The title track is up next to get us into the second half of the album, and it’s predictably more of the same rehashed ‘Metal’ concepts, chuggy guitars, good but uninspiring guitar riffs, dull drums and vocals that fly all over the place and make the whole song feel disjointed. Lurch comes in for the emotional, slower track and it actually does quite a good job, the production is really great and this level of experimentation I can get behind a bit more. When it kicks in however it soon falls into the realms of yet more vapid Deathcore with a heavy Metalcore leaning and kind of spoils it. Offering up more of the same is Lower Purpose and Lust For A Severed Head, neither of them giving off anything that we haven’t heard before and displaying an array of lacklustre Deathcore with absolutely no punch about it. That later track is at least a little more on the right lines of what I had hoped for. Finally comes The Silver Sun, the predictable ‘longer’ song which has elements of Prog Metal to it. It’s actually quite musically adept but I really cannot stress how much I despise those clean vocals. When it does get ‘heavy’ it’s just more of the same and doesn’t really offer any sort of Prog payoff.

I accept and appreciate that I’m probably not fully this band’s target audience. I mean I like Deathcore, but I like my Deathcore to be pretty savage, we’re talking early Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, As Blood Runs Black, Annotations Of An Autopsy that kind of thing. To me The Nothing That Is is just a drab exploration of the thin line between awful modern Hardcore, Metalcore and Deathcore. If you’ve never heard anything heavier than Machine Head then maybe this will resonate but old school Deathcore or Death Metal fans steer clear.

(3/10 George Caley)

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https://fitforanautopsy.bandcamp.com/album/the-nothing-that-is