It’s your resident deathcore nerd with another nitpicky review of one of the most consistent bands in the scene, Fit For An Autopsy. I last offered up a review for their previous record, Oh What The Future Holds, calling the band and the record “thinking man’s deathcore”. You can read that review here!

They are back with another heater of a record, The Nothing That Is. So here I am, taking you, the reader along for the ride.

For those of you who know, the New Jersey Bruisers have been putting out banger after banger of a record like a well-oiled machine, which is not often seen in this style of music. Where other bands rely on a gimmick or lean heavily into one trope of the genre or another; Fit For An Autopsy have carved out their brand of progressive deathcore. Their run of records starting with Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell¸ running into The Great Collapse and The Sea of Tragic Beasts are criminally underrated. They found their deserved fame with Tragic Beasts and shot into the limelight with Oh What The Future Holds. The band continually tries to push the envelope of what it is to be deathcore, while not compromising on what makes the genre heavy and aggressive. The Nothing That Is continues that solid tradition.

Opening with a dropkick to the throat, “Hostage” is a perfect example of the heavy-yet-proggy deathcore that Fit For An Autopsy has to offer, and is a great single to showcase that the band still has the catchy songwriting chops to write a crowd favorite. Following it with “Spoils of the Horde”, the Spheres of Madness chug-run is cheeky yet does the trick of creating yet another run of enjoyable riffs. Ending the track with the chant “All Glory to the Fires That Never Burn Out!” shoots the track to one of my favorites. However, it is “Savior of None – Ashes of All” that is the clear standout of the first half of the record. The quicker pace, the string skipped almost melodeath main riff shows yet another side of the FFAA writing machine. The band still has what it takes to write high-octane arrangements that hit like a truck. It is then with particular delight, that the band utilizes a clean vocal run that soars without delving into whiny-metalcore territory. The band’s use of clean vocals is a risky move, especially since it brings out the mouthbreathers and the gatekeepers of the scene, but every clean vocal section on The Nothing That Is hits hard and adds to the depth and heft of the track. Much of that reason is that the “softer” sections are contrasted by the heaviest moments on the record. The breakdown on “Savior of None – Ashes of All” feels like a bludgeoning sledgehammer to the knee, and the clean vocal chorus comes as a sigh of relief after.

The first half of the record almost makes The Nothing That Is come off as a more straightforward chuggier record than the expansive record that was Oh What The Future Holds. But the band keeps some of its tricks up its sleeves, and “Red Horizon” plays with different sounds, and the title track “The Nothing That Is” answers the question of what if Thy Art is Murder and Gojira had a child, and that child was adopted by the New Jersey guys. With more cheeky slides and doomier runs, they lean into their post-deathcore runs. Tracks like “Lurch” continue to blur the line between what this band is, and the band that post-techdeath band Rivers of Nihil are becoming.

Cementing the motif of this band being “the thinking man’s deathcore”, Fit For An Autopsy has never shied away from dealing with the heavy subject matter in their lyrical content. This record is no different, with tracks like “Lower Purpose” throwing charged lyrics dealing with our current socio-political climate. While the band has moved away from its environmentally conscious messaging of previous records, the lyrics are no less hard-hitting and poignant.

While Oh What The Future Holds spreads its wings into the more progressive realm, The Nothing That Is drags us through the muck with chuggier doomier writing, and grittier and grimier production. Will Putney continues to be the mastermind behind the band’s sonic textures, more closely mimicking his own band End with its sludgy guitar tones focusing on that low-mid lug? While many of the trve DIY hardcore kids will admire this approach, I prefer my deathcore to be a tad more pristine and felt that the grimier tones took away some of the nuances that make FFAA riffs a delight to listen to. While this is completely a matter of personal taste, I found myself tired of the constant barrage of that deliberately muddy low end in the latter half of the record. Going back to the review of their previous record, three years seem to have me repeating the same complaints, making me realize that this is an aspect of the band’s sound that I just do not relate to.

That isn’t to say that the musicianship displayed by the lads in Fit For An Autopsy aren’t absolutely top-notch. Guitarists Will Putney¸ Pat Sheridan and Tim Howley continue to prove that they are among the best riff writers in the scene today. With riffs, and chugs galore, the band tickles the caveman itch of simpler deathcore, while also writing tastier arrangements for those of us wanting more than dumb chugs in our deathcore. Bassist Peter Spinazola continues to provide that low-end support to give the rest of the instruments enough room to shine, while also throwing a tasteful lick or two to hold his own among the three guitarists. Drummer Josean Orta gives his all behind the kit, and his arrangements color even the simpler sections adding layers of depth and elevating even the more straightforward sections of the record. Vocalist Joe Bad continues to surprise me, and the rest of the deathcore scene, with such an underdog scrappy hardcore energy and approach to his vocals, yet showing the range and dynamics of a veteran of the scene, without resorting to vocal Olympics and tiktok snapshots that plague the genre. If someone can let me know who provides the clean vocals on the record (Pat Sheridan?), I’d buy them a drink, because the clean vocals were a highlight of the record.

The Nothing That Is, is a doomy punchy addition to the massively growing Fit For An Autopsy repertoire. A record with plenty of depth, punch, and nuance to appreciate, the band continues to be the most hard-working and consistent band in the scene. The Thinking Man’s Deathcore band strikes again!