''Mental Funeral'' is the second album by American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...

, released on April 22, 1991 by

Peaceville Records Peaceville Records is a British independent heavy metal record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw (of the bands Instigators and Civilised Society, as well as a former drummer of Sore Throat) in Dewsbury, England, in 1987. ...

. Dutch Pearce of

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

called ''Mental Funeral'' "one of the most influential albums in the history of death metal". Eduardo Rivadavia of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

states that the album confused listeners when first released, and conferred the title of "death metal's ultimate love/hate band" on Autopsy.

Background and recording

The album was recorded at Different Fur Studios in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The band described the album's recording process as having a "

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

atmosphere", and claim to have consumed copious amounts of

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

during its recording process. Chris Reifert said, "There were 18 of us there or something ..we did all things we were not supposed to do while making a record it seems." The band was satisfied with most of the tones achieved during

pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...

, and little mixing was required for the final product.

Composition

Autopsy's sound on ''Mental Funeral'' has been described as "lumbering, unholy, and totally gross." Its styles have been categorized as

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

and

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...

. Autopsy drummer and vocalist

Chris Reifert Chris Reifert (born February 23, 1968) is an American death metal musician. He is the founder, vocalist, and drummer of Autopsy (band), Autopsy. He was previously a founding member of Abscess (band), Abscess, and drummer for Death (metal band), ...

believes the album feels "a little

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

..but without

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

s or anything like that." He claimed that the interlude riff in "In The Grip of Winter" was " irectly stolen from “

Eskimo ''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Sibe ...

” by

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vid ...

, and said he "just switched the notes a little bit". He said the main riff in “Destined to Fester” drew influence from “Call From the Grave” by Bathory. Brandon Corsair of

Invisible Oranges ''Invisible Oranges'' is an American online music magazine dedicated to heavy metal news, band interviews and album reviews. It was founded by Cosmo Lee in September 2006 shortly after emigrating from San Francisco, California, United States t ...

said "each song contains within it the potential to completely go off the rails with speed and aggression or to slow to a painful

dirge A dirge () is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as may be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegy, elegies. Dirges are of ...

". The

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

stylings of Eric Cutler and

Danny Coralles Daniel Coralles is one of the current guitarists in the band Autopsy and was co-founder with drummer Chris Reifert of Abscess. Autopsy is back again and have been so since 2009 which is currently producing new material and is actively playing sel ...

on the album have been described as "agile" and "melodic." The album's

rhythm guitars In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass ...

have been described as "savage" and "remorseless." The album's song structures have been described as being "never easy to predict." Lyrically, the album explores themes including

necrophilia Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction or acts involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ''International ...

. Chris Reifert's vocal performance has been characterized as employing "bowel-vacating croaks" and "spleen-bursting shrieks."

Legacy

Eduardo Rivadavia of

wrote, "Sadly, while it won over as many fans as it pissed off upon release, ''Mental Funeral'' arguably confused an even greater number of consumers, turning Autopsy into death metal's ultimate love/hate band, the one no one seemed able to agree on."

Track listing

Personnel

;Autopsy *

– vocals, drums *

– guitar *Eric Cutler – guitar, vocals on "Slaughterday" *Steve Cutler – bass ;Production *Recorded November 20–26, 1990 at Different Fur,

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, USA *Produced by

and Hammy *Engineered by Ron Rigler *Cover art by

Kev Walker Kevin Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on '' 2000 AD'' and ''Warhammer'' comics and the collectible card game '' Magic: The Gathering''. He is now working for Marvel Comics. Biography Walker b ...

References

{{Authority control Autopsy (band) albums 1991 albums Death metal albums