While coming relatively late to the deathcore game, not releasing their debut album until 2011, Fit for an Autopsy quickly showed themselves to be a cut above the rest, with their biggest strength being their ability to bring atmosphere and subtlety to a genre known for being as brutal as possible.
The Great Collapse is the culmination of the potential that they have previously shown, with the instrumentation and lyrics being a massive improvement and showing that the band actually has something they want to say, spreading a message about their disdain for what the world has become today.
With the opening track Hydra, it is apparent how FFAA differ from their peers, bringing a lumbering, purposeful sound forward, focusing more on crushing riffs rather than speed and/or breakdowns. While tracks like Iron Moon are some of the heaviest material the band has put forth, The Great Collapse has a very strong somber element to it, with tracks like Black Mammoth or Empty Still having a quite depressing atmosphere to them.
The lumbering sound FFAA has on this album is due to several factors, with the main factor being FFAA’s three guitarists (Will Putney, Pat Sheridan and Tim Howley) making heavy, downtuned riffs the priority, rather than just open stringed chugging, with atmospheric or dissonant guitar lines or the occasional fast paced solo there to bring variety to the proceedings. Drummer Josean Orta is absolutely relentless throughout without being too flashy, effortlessly shifting gears to whatever fits the music, be it the blast beats in the track Terraform to the aggressive stomp in Iron Moon.
Another aspect that helps FFAA have such a massive sounding album is the production work by guitarist Will Putney, who has been the producer of many albums, such as Northlane- Node and Every Time I Die – Low Teens, bringing a very punchy mix to the fore, giving the album a very thick sound with a pronounced bottom end and enough room to really give the guitars a large, impactful presence through The Great Collapse.
The Gojira influence FFAA showed in their previous album, Absolute Hope Absolute Hell, shows up on this album to an even greater degree, with the semi-clean vocals from Joe Badolato found in tracks like Head Will Hang and When the Bulbs Burn Out sounding quite similar to Gojia vocalist Joe Duplantier.
The Great Collapse is a very dark album lyrically, with Joe Badolato using his lyrics to paint a very grim picture of the world, with lyrics ranging from war in Heads Will Hang to religion in Empty Still to the Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline in album highlight Black Mammoth, with the chorus having some of the the most arrestingly descriptive lyrics of the entire album:
“Rejoice in masses, the tribe collapses.
The mother weeps in her dying breath.
Rise from the ashes, oh foul Black Mammoth.
Dead in spirit, now dead in flesh.”
Like Aversions Crown with their latest album Xenocide, Fit For an Autopsy have shown that there is still hope for the deathcore genre, releasing an album with a strong message, mature songwriting and full of moments where tracks are given the space to breathe,, giving The Great Collapse a huge impact when it hits. I would recommend this album even to people who generally look down on the deathcore genre.
RATING: 7 / 10
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