As you may have already guessed from the title, "The Headless Ritual" is not the brand new "Barney The Dinosaur" album, it is the second full length offer from Californian Death Metal pioneers AUTOPSY since their return in 2009. The band that called it quits back in 1995, returned with a vengeance, and Chris Reifert and the boys have taken no prisoners with their pure Death / Doom Metal approach, and this album is no exception,

AUTOPSY waste no time getting down to business with "Slaughter at the Beast House", at times fast, furious, back to basics Death Metal, at other times, slow, methodical and Doomish. The onslaught continues with "Mangled Far Below", lasts the fast and heavy assault of this monstrous album. "She is a Funeral" marks a change in direction, the longest track on the album (clocking at over 7 minutes) and having a more Doom Metal sound with fantastic guitar work throughout. A creepy guitar intro welcomes us to "Coffin Crawlers" that starts out slow but speeds up at the next sections making it a soon to be mosh pit favorite. "When Hammer Meets Bone" (no, it's not about cooking) is another fast to slow number staying true to the bands roots.

The band are at their best for "Arch Cadaver" another super heavy track making your head bang without you ever noticing it. "Flesh Turns to Dust" is one of the best examples of Death / Doom Metal released in recent years, reminiscent of the late 80s British Doom movement. After the slow intermission, it is back to action with the speed of "Running From The Goathead". Finally the sweat comes to an end with the instrumental title track.

AUTOPSY are veterans, they know what they're doing, and it shows, this is a very raw and far from perfect production, but that doesn't matter, this is Death / Doom Metal as it should be, raw, unyielding, unforgiving, nothing fancy, just great songwriting, great playing, and a lot of heart.