CoC : Severed Saviour - Servile Insurrection : Review

Severed Saviour - _Servile Insurrection_
(Candlelight Records, 2008)
by: Jackie Smit (7 out of 10)

As a vehicle for their ample instrumental talents, _Servile Insurrection_ is a bona fide marvel. A decidedly brutal death metal proposition at their core, Severed Saviour break the mould and flirt enthusiastically with everything from progressive flourishes to spastic stop-and-go jazz sequences for the duration of their sophomore effort -- and to their credit, they're able to pull it off spectacularly. At no point do any of their outside influences sound contrived or tacked on, and in fact, songs like the opener, "Question", and its follow-up, "Inserted & Inverted", sound harder-hitting for it. As pure songwriters, Severed Saviour don't fare quite as well however; which is not to say that they make a complete hash of things either. But no matter how much virtuoso fretboard punishment they're able to meet out, they do run into the same ailment affecting many of their ilk: the ability to write a truly memorable song. There are more than a handful of bits that qualify as such, but on the whole the band often attempt to squeeze so many ideas into a relatively confined sequence that it ends up being lost in the hellacious carnage of it all.

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/severedsaviour

(article published 31/10/2008)