Autopsy "Severed Survival" CD

I'm going to preface my review with a little bit about myself. I've always loved death metal. Always. After 15 years of listening to death metal (among other types of extreme metal) I had realized one day, out of the blue, that I had never given much attention to the classics. Those rare gems that literally spawned the genre. I did some searching and came up with a list of essential death metal. Severed Survival came up quite a lot. So I gave it a listen, at 6:00 in the morning. I turned it off about halfway through. Why? I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something about this album really, really, really gave me the creeps. It affected me for days. It made me feel weird. I took a shower right after I listened to it. I put it away for months, too spooked to listen to it again. After digging into Mental Funeral, I decided I had to give it another try. I think I figured out why it gave me the creeps.
The atmosphere on this album is hideous, ugly, disgusting, and vile. They somehow managed to capture the sonic essence of all of the grotesque subject matter of the album. I think a lot of it has to do with the production. It's raw, a little murky, with razor sharp guitars and the bass high in the mix, thumping away like a diseased human heart about to give up. I would call the music mid-paced speedy death metal. The thing is, nothing on the album is boring. It's pure energy, from start to finish. Every riff, every lead, every kick on the bass drum, it's all flawless, relentless power. This is a thrilling album. It's primitive death metal, for sure. You certainly won't find any technical acrobatics here, but what is here is a collection of exciting, in-your-fucking-face death metal.
Reifert's vocals are interesting. Not quite the full-on death metal growl you hear on Mental Funeral, instead it's more of a savage, sloppy bark/roar, but god damn, it works. Everything about this album is flawless. Everything meshes perfectly. They must have genuinely put a lot of thought into the sound because what's here is completely and totally perfect. The only reason I don't give this album a 100% is because, in my mind, the difference between a 96% and a 100% is exponential. 100% ratings are excessively rare, but this album comes awfully close. It is absolutely essential death metal. Don't hesitate. Get it. If you can't buy it (nowadays CDs are pretty much obsolete) get it on Spotify, or Apple Music, or whatever. (as an aside, the bands DO get paid every time you stream a song).
Really, it's hard to say any more about this album. It captures a grotesque atmosphere while never, ever getting boring. It really is essential listening and absolutely one of the best death metal albums ever recorded. Absolutely the highest possible recommendation.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...