Originally written by Kris Yancey
Christ on a fucking pogo stick, I really liked Severed Savior before. Now I really, really like Severed Savior. In a completely homoerotic fashion. But I can’t commit to them on a serious relationship basis. It’s not cold feet or anything; I could totally imagine Severed Savior and I, sitting on the beach, with nothing but the cool island breeze flowing through our hair, the sand between our toes, and the stories we think we’d share as we grew old together. I’m just already committed to several others, being the studly metal polygamist I am. My first partner, Suffocation, would probably not appreciate yet another mate crowding up the apartment.
Seriously though, Severed Savior’s long past due follow-up to Brutality Is Law is pretty damn impressive, but I can’t help but feel the thundering tech reverberations of this year’s earlier offerings from Decrepit Birth, Origin, and Hour of Penance. Still, Servile Insurrection doth shred flesh and shatter bone, featuring several unexpected nuggets in the form of opening face-fister “Question,” guttural/clean instrumental pairing “Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis” and “Intervallo del Tradimento,” and some bizarre, strangely cacophonous riffs in the title track. There’s some feisty little bastards in there as well, including “Fuck the Humans,” “Fecalpheliac,” and…
…wait a second!
Four of the tracks on Servile Insurrection are oldies from their Forced to Bleed EP. So for those of you in the Severed Savior-know, the production on Servile Insurrection is light years from that seemingly ancient time in Severed Savior’s career. That said, I kinda want to smack these guys around so they’ll actually write more new stuff instead of retreading old ground. I understand not that many people will ever listen to an elusive EP from a br00tal band, but damn, five years for 21 measly minutes? I’d feel gypped if only the new material wasn’t so fucking good.
While Servile Insurrection is not necessarily as amazing as contemporary efforts Diminishing Between Worlds or Antithesis, it is a great way to cap off the tremendous death metal releases this year, and is mandatory for anyone that pledges allegiance to the flag Effigy of the Forgotten hoisted all those years ago.
