I found these guys via Amputated Vein Records a couple of
months ago but never bothered to look them up until a couple of weeks ago. Here’s
one thing that really screwed me over, when I see a name like Severed Crotch,
the first that comes to mind is some random hilarious grindcore/death grind
band. But obviously once I actually sat down and listened to them, I was wrong.
Although Severed Crotch wouldn’t be my name of choice for a traditional tech death
band, this is one of those cases where the music is so good that the name doesn’t
even matter. They could be named “Elephants who like to Fart on Human Babies”
for all I care, I would still love them! This is something you NEED to hear
because it is amazing.
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of new tech death bands
like Slaughtery, Hour of Penance, Slaughterbox, and Carnophage. The thing is,
with most of the bands I’ve been uncovering recently, and none of them stick
out to me as being totally creative. Of course they all have fucking skills,
but Severed Crotch was EXACTLY what I needed (I just realized how perverted
that sounds). Here’s the thing with SC (that’s what I’m going to call them),
they’re not SUPER brutal, they’re not SUPER technical, and they’re not SUPER
fast and chaotic; they’re all of those things evened out at a marginal level.
This is perfect for those times where Rings of Saturn and Slaughterbox are just
too fucking crazy, and Psycroptic and Atheist aren’t quite brutal enough.
The trait that SC has that won my heart was the fact that
everything is tuned really low and that everything is HELLA deep, especially
the vocalist (whom I am extremely jealous of). The vocalist! Oh my god, when
people ask me what my favorite kinds of vocals are, I usually show them
Majestic Beast by Amorphis or something by Opeth or The Faceless; but this guy
is now up there as being one of the best and deepest growlers with Demon
Carcass and Mikael Akerfeldt. Even his mid-ranges and highs blow me away! There’s
one question that this leaves me with, is he this good live?
The songs range from being blasting speeds to slower,
headbanging-appropriate tracks. Human Recipes is probably the best headbanging
track, having tight, but slow kick drumming that create a thick beat that gets
my head going instantly. Ecstasy in Death is definitely my favorite song off of
this album. Ecstasy in Death shows SC’s full potential in all areas including
the musicians technical skills, creativity, how many genres they can infuse
into one song, and how fucking brutal they can get. The brutality level reaches
its highest point during the extreme breakdown in the middle of the song, which
took me by surprise because I was so used to listening to all of these bands
that were trying NOT to add in breakdowns like “most of the other shitty metal
bands out there” are. The bassist is crazy as well, especially in Ecstasy in
Death. Even though you can’t hear the bassist very well except when he’s
reaching higher notes and when he’s soloing; when you listen closely, it sounds
like he’s playing the lead guitar part, only you can’t really hear it that
well. Some of these tech death bassists just BLOW MY MIND when it comes to the
complexity, speed, and utter creativity of what they play. Some of the other
notable tech death bassists out there that amaze me come from Obscura, Rings of
Saturn, The Crinn, The Faceless, and Embryonic Devourment.
This is now one of my favorite technical death albums AND
bands of all-time. This is something you NEED to hear because the name is
deceiving, they’re AMAZING! I can’t stress that enough. This album is
absolutely positively completely FLAWLESS and can’t be something that I wouldn’t
recommend to someone. I would give this album 20/20 for being one of the best
tech death albums (and vocalists!!) of all-time.
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