Another incredibly solid recent release from Willowtip is "Servile Insurrection", the sophomore full-length from Severed Savior, not to mention their first proper release in five years. This is actually my first exposure to the band's work, but only the rhythm section remains from their debut (but that actually means something here because there's some super intense musicianship happening across the board), and from what I can gather they seem to pushing towards a more technical and diverse approach than was explored in some of their earlier work. Whatever the case, they've succeeded, as this disc unloads 11 tracks/35 minutes of scorching death metal that perfectly combines the guttural vocals and chunky riffing of the genre's more brutal side with loads of sick complexities and just the right dash of progressiveness to keep things interesting without sounding artsy or anything like that. It's interesting, because for the most part you can still look at Severed Savior as a straight up brutal death metal band, but the quality of the riffs and the songwriting is light years ahead of most of what comes to mind when said phrase is involved, and those little flourishes of succinct jazzy breaks, sleek solos, unexpected clean passages, or just plain explosive little twists and turns really help the material rise above and stand apart. "Fecalphiliac" is the only track on the disc that unfortunately touches on a lot of the more typical characteristics of unrepentant brutality, with some of the most ridiculous lyrics I've seen in years. Seriously, just flat out fucking stupid, especially compared to everything else that's going on here. I'm not sure why they dumbed it down to that level for a mere three minutes out of an otherwise excellent album, but oh well. Hopefully that was a leftover from their earlier days, and they'll continue to explore higher ground elsewhere. Aside from that, everything's in order: Great cover art, solid recording that's dense yet crisp—and without falling into the same trap as many of their contemporaries by ending up with lifelessly clinical tones—and so on. Good stuff, and I'll be very curious to see where they take it from this point...
Severed Savior "Servile Insurrection"
Severed Savior "Question"
Comments
Nice to have you back, sir - it’s been a long week without ya! If I’m not mistaken, you were the first person to turn me onto Willowtip a couple years ago, so in case you haven’t been thanked for that… thanks. This sounds excellent… but I gotta admit, the track that I really want to hear now is Fecalphilliac…
1.12.2009 | By Karl J
I’ve been fairly disinterested with death metal lately (with the exception of Hacksaw to the Throat), but the sample tracks sound great. It’s good to know that there are still bands out there willing to breath new life into a relatively stagnant genre. Kudos on the find.
1.13.2009 | By paul
Fecalpheliac was originally released on their album Forced To Bleed(2001).Dusty Boisjolie was the vocalist at the time.
1.13.2009 | By Tim
Ahhh, good to know, thanks for that detail.
1.13.2009 | By Andrew Aversionline
check out Dead Congregation. It’s one of the better DM bands out there!
1.15.2009 | By Carlos