Presented just a step above (and beside) their impressive demo tape from a few years ago Groningen, Netherlands-based death metal band SAVAGE punch up through the soil for another late 80’s/early 90’s stoked release, their debut EP. Smartly showcasing the full-ranged throwback on offer ‘Septic Tomb‘ carries the best traditions of early Swedish death metal style and its adjacency to North American feats that’d inspired it, achieving the morbid punkish energy of the era beyond simply recreating the sound. Achieving the heightened sensation of old better than most as a point of lineage this EP bodes well for what destiny they’re carving for themselves in the near future.

Active in extreme metal since the mid-to-late 90’s musician Michel Jonker initially put in the work drumming for death metal band Absorbed and playing guitar with extreme crusties Makiladoras before founding his best-known group: Entrapment was an exploration of pure early 90’s death metal of the European/Scandinavian variety, accomplishing much across four celebrated albums + a righteous sendoff with ‘Imminent Violent Death‘ (2019). Since he’d shuttered the band and moved on in 2019 or so it was a surprise that he’d revived the punk-kicked, thrashing and grind tipped spire of early Swedish/North American death metal for Savage around 2023. I’d had the chance to premiere that first demo tape (‘Demo I‘, 2023) nearby release, suggesting his new work: “likewise reeks of the old putrid, horrified and punk-thrashing edge of circa ’89 death metal. D-beaten and slinging rock solos out the gates the cadence of this tape starts out familiar but soon focuses on the ruthless aggression Jonker is known for, blazing through each piece (“Revulsion” is my favorite) like an axe-murderer […]” and this translates directly to what we find on ‘Septic Tomb‘ today.

Slated for a full-length debut (via Hammerheart) in November of this year Savage collect all pre-album works here as far as I can tell, pulling the three songs from ‘Demo I‘ in as bonus tracks while presenting four new pieces in the same style. Within those four pieces ‘Septic Tomb‘ reinforce a couple of things the keener-eared listener will appreciate: First is Jonker‘s fandom of not only Nihilist but many of the things that’d obviously influenced the band back in the mid-to-late 80’s wherein hardcore/crust punk, thrash metal and nascent grind fed energetic throat-grabbing energy into their work. The first two songs on this EP do well to take hold in similar circa ’89 manner (re: Repugnant) wherein “Nightmares” and “S.A.V.A.G.E.” strike fast and leave a more primitive mark than Entrapment might’ve in continuation.

The remaining two songs run more of split gamut where we find “Spectral Torment” leans into doomed, Macabre End styled movement and the title track (“Septic Tomb”) gives us a shove into a sort of early death n’ roll meets grindcore stature, more Repulsion than Xysma overall but you get the idea. The former is probably my favorite work on here beyond the breakout of the opener as I’d felt this was exactly the right way to do doom/death in shorter form, invoking a lumbering sensation via the riff rather than relying on over-frothed atmosphere. I’d figure any future releases will reflect the ouevre (and ratio of expression) offered within this EP where the focus is on pure ‘old school’ death metal efficiency with detours into the extremes offered by doom, gloom and grind.

Much like the demo tape before (and within) it ‘Septic Tomb‘ is entirely concise, each song is honed down to its most primal statement and delivered with the attack of the ancients, an approach which speaks with great authenticity. Sure, you’ve heard some of these progressions and this general sound before. None of those rules are broken, none of those tools are broken or discarded and in that sense Savage‘s work is squarely set upon the obsessive fandom of the ’87-’90 Swedeath paradigm. The old school grindcore and doomed-out moments probably hit hardest for my own taste and as such I’ll be hoping for more of those nodes when their debut LP hits later on. A high recommendation.

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