EP Review: Foul Body Autopsy - Crucifix Dreams
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
What better time than Halloween for Tom Reynolds to resurrect his gore splattered project, Foul Body Autopsy? Marking the first music released under this name since the 2020 EP Consumed By Black Thoughts, this new disc features the titular track and three live recordings from the band’s headlining set at the Leicester Metal to the Masses event in 2022.
Inspired by the words of John George Haigh, aka the Acid Bath Murderer, Crucifix Dreams opens with a narration of a surreal dream, supplemented by sounds of a haunted forest, before cranking into some fierce Death Metal, imbued with only a modicum of the melodic. Written more than half a decade ago, yet stubbornly refusing to fit onto any of Tom’s releases since, he finally managed to get the song onto tape.
Ably assisted in this endeavour, Tom managed to call in Megadeth’s Dirk Verbeuren to underpin everything with an unrelentingly pummelling percussion, partnered with Steve Di Giorgio of Testament on bass to shore up the core of the song. Tom’s rhythm playing grind and stomps, sounding as fetid as the forest of the central theme.
Contributing solos here are Death’s Bobby Koelble and King Diamond legend, Andy LaRocque, whose fingerprints are undeniable throughout his part. Vocally, Tom brings in a combination of cookie monster gruffness and higher pitched squeals and you have a song worthy of standing toe to toe with any exponent of the splatter death metal genre you care to mention.
The three live tracks, Synthetic Existence and Left to Rot from the self-titled 2013 EP and Born into a Man-Made Hell from the following year’s Close to Complete Dehumanization release, find Tom and company in fine form, giving a live fatness and a new rampaging urgency to the tunes. You don’t need the visuals to picture Leicester being eviscerated during this set of songs, and also feeling that you would have loved to be there to witness it.
Cloaked in some classic horror-inspired artwork from Dan Goldsworthy of Corpsegrinder and Aborted fame, this sub twenty-minute disc really is the perfect way to spend the spooky season and who knows, if you play it loud enough, it might just stop those little ones knocking at your door.
Just kiddin’ - I love Halloween.
