Review Summary: Fuck my stock, just for fun, just for kicks.
Annotations of an Autopsy is ***ing awesome.
If you have never heard anything by AoaA, go to their myspace and give them a listen. AoaA combines everything that deathcore is hated for and multiply it by a hundred. Their debut EP, Welcome to Sludge City, was met with tons of love from many in the deathcore scene. Most fans outside of the genre, though, took the band as a joke. Unlike Dr.Acula, AoaA takes themselves a little more serious and apply that to their music. It makes the music more respectable overall, but not by much. To be honest, a band who uses as many pig squeals as Annotations does is going to have a hard time finding respect.
However, Before the Throne of Infection is a huge step up for the band.
The first improvement can be noticed immediately; the production is a huge step up from their debut EP. AoaA signed with Siege of Amida Records and Ferret records, who decided to actually put money into the production. The guitars are crisp, the vocals sound much better, and the instruments sound balanced. The production helps the band sound much more serious than their EP, and the music strives because of it.
The second improvement is in the vocals. While Before The Throne of Infection still features a plethora of pig squeals, there are way less than on the previous album. An added vocal technique (which I call the Waking the Cadaver vocals) replaces some of the pig squeals and while being equally as horrible, they are different and add variety. The yells and screams sound totally fine, though not groundbreaking or anything.
On the bad side, the vocals are still atrocious. Pig Squeals, guttural growls, and throaty vocals are abound throughout the whole album. The lyrics are utterly indiscernible, except when spoken word. Perhaps that’s a good thing though, as the lyrics contain such gems as “I have come to *** you, smash in your face. The time has come for me to end, leave you in a ditch. The time has come for me to pound you with my dick 'till you’re unconscious. Bitch, I’ve shown you who’s the bigger man. Because I had to pay your bills, you gotta pay with your life. You have gotta pay” from the amazing track Human Dust and “Watching the blood drip from her ass is a sight not to be missed, I fist them til they're sick” from Fisted to the Point of Regurgitation. While the lyrics are terrible and focus on gore, atheism, and doing things to bitches, they fit perfectly with the music.
If you don’t take AoaA 100% serious you may even begin to like them a little. Hell, I know I do. If you can look past the bad lyrics and the guy throating like a frog for 30 minutes you may even find yourself into the music. The guitars are extremely typical chug chug, except for the clean songs(all 2 of them), and the drums and bass are placeholders. The instruments aren’t bad though, just typical and generic. The vocalist is the thing that is going to keep people away from this band, and rightfully so. If you’re into the brutal deathcore thing with the pig squeals and the misogynistic lyrics and everything, AoaA is probably sounding pretty great. But if you hate all those things, stay far away. Annotations of an Autopsy is not good musically, but they can be enjoyable if you don’t judge them the same way you judge Cryptopsy or Cynic. If you can put your biases aside and just try to go along with the brutal atmosphere that they are trying to create you may come along to the same conclusion I have.
Annotations of an Autopsy is ***ing awesome.
Pros-
Production is a step-up
If you like pig squeals they're done pretty well
Enjoyable for those with a sense of humor
Cons-
atrocious lyrics
atrocious vocals
generic instruments
repetitive
