Severed Survival

Severed Survival is one of the ugliest musical visions ever put to record and one of the premier old-school death metal albums. The term ‘old-school’ alone goes a long way in describing the sound that one should expect on here, but doesn’t quite do it justice. Autopsy’s approach is crude and dead simple, in the same general realm as Master and Massacre for this time period, but with an unorthodox bass-heavy production that allows this album to stand out amongst its peers. Their goal was primitive brute force, but because of the manner in which they chose to achieve it, they also managed to create an aura of pure malevolence that, prior to this album’s release, was probably difficult to imagine.

The mastermind of this symphony of sickness is drummer/vocalist and primary lyricist/songwriter Chris Reifert. Everything about his contribution to the album just exudes class; ironic considering how tasteless much of his subject matter is. His vocals are in the same league as other greats like John Tardy and Kam Lee, meaning that he raucously spews out what appears to be (after intense scrutinizing) words from the English language. Those who dare take a closer look at the lyric sheet would find the no-nonsense sort of gore lyrics typical of death metal’s earliest days, but written with a subtlety and precision several years ahead of its time. The violence is over the top for sure, but it is delivered in a manner that begs to be taken seriously. Compare this to the boorish perversion of Chris Barnes or the unintelligible rambling of Bret Hoffmann and see the first hints of why Autopsy is a bit more than meets the eye.

For a more complete study on this, one must only examine the music. As stated above, Autopsy’s brand of death metal is of the no-nonsense variety: there aren’t any clean breaks, melodic guitar solos, synthesizers, or stupid Morbid Angel ambient interludes to be found anywhere on here. Nothing foreign to the death metal aesthetic exists to give the listener a breath of fresh air from the pervasive smog that can all but suffocate. But while the presentation is simple, the actual execution is deep and atypical. As death metal bands began accelerating to top speed in order to achieve maximum intensity, Autopsy were one of the few bands to experiment with slower, spine-chilling riffage. And with the exception of a few bouncier riffs (that one in “Gasping for Air” might as well have been on Eaten Back to Life), there’s a complete absence of anything overtly catchy or melodic. The rhythm varies constantly and the meter, though mostly straightforward, is often discretely altered. The result? Utterly inaccessible death metal forged without reliance on blast beats (only CD-bonus “Stillborn” even has them) or modern gimmickry like pitch-shifted vocals and fuzzy shit distortion. Also, as mentioned above, the bass (recorded by Steve Digiorgio, though Ken Sorvari appears in the band photos) provides a constant rumble beneath the riffage that you don’t usually get to appreciate on other albums of the period, creating a natural overall guitar sound that’s just as beastly as anything you’re likely to hear in the genre. Touched off with the ripping solos of Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles, every song on the album is a small monument to this long-forgotten style of death metal and not a minute falls below the margin of quality.

A must-have for those interested in the genre’s glory days and Autopsy’s finest moment, Severed Survival is vile stuff that should not be overlooked.