Severed Survival

The first album by the band Chris Reifert started with Eric Cutler in August 1987, after leaving Death. It was recorded in January 1989 at Starlight Sound in Richmond, California, co-produced by Metal Church's John Marshall, with Sadus's Steve DiGiorgio brought in to play bass. Britain's Peaceville Records released it in 1989. The sound has come through both Bay Area thrash and Florida death metal, but what marks the record is the slow parts rather than the fast ones. The dragging descents of "Charred Remains", the title track and "Embalmed" are named among the earliest examples of what would be called death/doom. The lyrics and titles are built out of the vocabulary of dissection and decay, and that left its own long mark. The running order here is the 1989 original's as printed.