Fit for an Autopsy headlining metal show in Iowa City

New Jersey band bringing new material to Wildwood Smokehouse

Ed Condran

Jan. 6, 2022 6:00 am

With COVID surging wildly thanks to the pervasive Omicron strain, and with the cold, miserable backdrop of the January blahs, Fit for an Autopsy provides the perfect soundtrack for a bleak month.

New Jersey death metal band Fit for an Autopsy is headlining a multi-band lineup Sunday night, Jan. 9, 2022, at Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon in Iowa City. (Nuclear Blast Records)

The death metal band is one of the most nihilistic acts on the circuit. Fit for an Autopsy does misanthropy as well as any group.

"It's not difficult to get inspired," guitarist Pat Sheridan said by phone from New Jersey. "Human beings are awful. Look at the social decline and greed. Look at all of the stories about how horrible things are on TV."

If you go

What: Fit for an Autopsy, with Ingested, Enterprise Earth, Signs of the Swarm, Great American Ghost and From This Day Forward

Where: Wildwood Smokehouse and Saloon, 4919 Walleye Dr. SE, Iowa City

When: 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022

Tickets: $20 general admission, reserved tables sold out; wildwoodsaloon.com/wildwood-music-events

Band’s website: fitforanautopsy.co/

The dark side of life is chronicled in brutal fashion on such albums as 2015's highwater mark, “Absolute Hope, Absolute Hell," 2017's "The Great Collapse" and 2019's ”The Sea of Tragic Beasts."

Visceral deathcore is at the heart of the band's forthcoming "Oh What the Future Holds," which drops Jan. 14. Fit For an Autopsy, which will showcase fresh material and old favorites Sunday at the Wildwood Smokehouse and Saloon in Iowa City, is an intense live act.

"There is nothing like getting out there on the road playing to a room full of people," Sheridan said. "It's worth all of the effort we put in for a tour."

After a two-year hiatus from performing live, expect Fit for an Autopsy to be revved up each night it takes the stage.

"We just go out and play as hard as we can," Sheridan said. "We just want as many people to hear our music as possible. We spend a lot of time working on our songs."

Guitarist Will Putney doesn't receive the credit he deserves as a lyricist. While the band, which also includes vocalist Joe Badolato, guitarist Tim Howley, drummer Josean Orta, bassist Peter Spinazola, delivers deep grooves and massive riffs, the words are as potent as the bludgeoning cacophony.

Putney, who is an acclaimed metal producer (Like Moths to Flames and Misery Signals), pens lyrics capturing the plight of man in vivid detail. His words often are as intense as the band's jackhammer sonics.

"We're fortunate to have Will," Sheridan said. "There's no one quite like him."

And there's no band quite like Fit for an Autopsy, which is clever, gritty and uncompromising.