Severed Survival

Autopsy's Severed Survival should really need no introduction by now, and that goes double for any death metal fan worth his copy of Scream Bloody Gore. Autopsy's debut is one of the dirtier, more pugilistic pre-90's death metal albums, which along with the aforementioned Scream Bloody Gore, Altars of Madness and Slowly We Rot formed somewhat of an awesome foursome of genre defining classics.

Severed Survival always was the uglier of said foursome, and had these four albums been women; Severed Survival would be the overweight friend that despite looking ever-so-gnarly would probably give the best sex.

There are three things that make this album as great as it is, and contribute to Severed Survival being an essential death metal release. The first of which, are the riffs. This album unleashes a virulent shit-storm of riffs, which caressed via an achingly low-ass tone splatters your innards across the wall. The second of which is Steve DiGiorgio's bass playing, which without doubt crowns the album. He supposedly recorded all of the bass lines on the spot, which is nothing short of incredible, and a damn fine example of "winging it". The bass is perfectly technical, low enough to rumble your bowels and of course highly beneficial to the music.

Thirdly, Chris Reifert. The man really hits the nail on the head here, both with his vocals and drum skills. His vocals are quite obviously in the Chuck Schuldiner school of growling which is great, although I feel Reifert always sounded a little more manic and unsettling. The drums are really cool here, with a lot of obscure fills used, setting off more conventional beats, he controls tempo well and really leads everything forward, some of those double pedal crutching youngsters should take a leaf out of his book!

Another of the more note-worthy elements displayed on Severed Survival is that the band aren't afraid to launch into doom territory, with "Impending Death" standing as an almost proto-death/ doom track. As is normally the case with death metal the lead guitar work is explosive and relevant, with Eric and Danny delivering very well in this department with suitable restraint.

On the whole Severed Survival stands as a disgusting, raw, and dirty ode to death metal. This is the kind of death metal album that is actually horrifying, the production was its best friend resulting in a raw, festering, mucky sound. This gets my highest recommendation to death metal fans, but I feel this album has reasonable claim to a place in any serious metal fans collection. Essential!