Autopsy is an American death metal band formed in Contra Costa County, California, in 1987 by Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler.

Having completed a successful European tour soon after Mental Funeral, the band reentered the studio to record the Fiend for Blood EP, which was followed by their third full-length, Acts of the Unspeakable, which featured shorter songs and a more grindcore influenced sound.

[4] Shitfun, released in early 1995, was heavily influenced by hardcore punk and would prepare fans for Abscess, previously a side-project of Danny Coralles and Chris Reifert, which would become their main band after Autopsy's demise.

Autopsy was featured in the 2005 music documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey when the film's narrator and star, Sam Dunn read aloud a verse from the band's song "Charred Remains".

[11] Autopsy's music alternates between rapid and slow passages, breaking from typical death metal fashion of the time of the genre's infancy.

[12] According to Chris Krovatin of Kerrang, "The band’s constant swing between noisy traditional racket and dissonant doom moved away from metal's beats-per-minute arms race and reveled in the bodily weirdness that was at the heart of the genre's growth throughout the ’90s.

Chris Reifert recalled, "We would go to the video store and rent the goriest movies we could find and watch them over and over, rewinding the gore scenes several times in a row, cackling like maniacs.