Today, we’re diving into The Nothing That Is, the new album by deathcore favorites Fit For an Autopsy, hailing from New Jersey. I have to admit, it didn’t quite meet my expectations. This fourth album, which came after the members discovered Gojira, leans heavily into progressive songwriting—a bit too much for my taste. The Nothing That Is is best described as a dark progressive death album with a hint of deathcore.

As someone who’s been bingeing on their recent albums The Great Collapse, Sea of Tragic Beast, and Oh What the Future Holds, I don’t mind this shift. Deathcore often goes for intense speed, wild sweep picking, and glitchy blast beats, so it’s refreshing to hear some thought-out riff writing for a change. But turning so far from their core genre feels a bit off.

The album opens with Hostage, which brings a somewhat emo-metalcore vibe—imagine a “heartbreak anthem” feel. It’s a bit disappointing when you go into a Fit For an Autopsy album and get something reminiscent of the old, stereotypical “emo breakup song.”

Luckily, they follow this with two of the album’s heaviest tracks, giving us some breathing room. There are songs that teeter between “filler” and “wow, this is good,” and they pull off Red Waves, which has a style that’s hard to love from another band but works here. The album’s title track is solid and unafraid to take risks, while Lurch, my personal favorite, has an intro that actually reminds me a bit of Duman’s Melankoli. But the closing track left a bad taste; it’s as if they took risks just for the sake of it.

I’ll spare you a paragraph by summarizing: this album feels a bit like a “Gojira – Magma” cover by FFAA. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you; I’m a thrash metal fan, as you can probably tell. As a longtime listener (yes, I’ve hit the “old metalhead” phase), I’m not bothered by the fact that most thrash bands sound like 80s clones. If you’re into the progressive groove/death wave of the 2000s, you’ll probably be cool with this too.

To be fair, FFAA has always mixed progressive elements into their deathcore, so this shift isn’t just a trend grab. Still, if they had drawn more openly from different inspirations, it might not have felt so obvious.

This Gojira-esque direction is starting to get a bit repetitive, though. And please, I’m not just here to complain. Do I actually like the album? Absolutely, and I think it’s solid overall—just that it could’ve been even better with fewer predictable choices.

There are plenty of highlights: the crushing breakdowns, the jaw-dropping blast beats, and the clean-to-scream vocals that Joe Bad pulls off flawlessly. The riffs may not be groundbreaking, but they hit a balance of dark, melodic, and technical. Joe Bad’s vocals, both clean and brutal, keep pushing new boundaries; the guy is ridiculously talented.

The lyrics dive into dark, dystopian themes, which is surprising coming from someone with such a friendly persona. And sound-wise, it’s crystal clear why Nuclear Blast is such a powerhouse label: the guitar tones are pristine, and even in the digital age, Will Putney’s production stands out by not letting everything blur into noise under the blast beats.

It’s a killer album that’ll definitely make “best of the year” lists, but in a year or so, it might slip from memory for the same reasons I mentioned. Not every album needs to be groundbreaking, but when it’s progressive, you hope for something truly original—not just a tribute band playing two chords down.