It hasn’t even been a year since Septage’s debut Septic Decadence showcased the Danish band’s utterly filthy and gross take on death metal and grind, but they’ve already prepared a follow-up. That effort offered four songs in under twelve minutes, this was a strong first showing that reminded me of Autopsy and Carcass circa Symphonies of Sickness. Septisk Eradikasyon continues on this same path, stringing together riff after riff in ways that blur the lines between death metal and grin. Although the differences between the two efforts are subtle at times, there’s still plenty here that separates Septage from the usual goregrind or death metal throwback.
What once again has drawn me into the gross and heavy sounds this trio is creating is the underlying level of technicality and sheer number of riffs they offer up in a short period of time. You’d hardly qualify this as technical death metal or grind, but there’s an underlying level of nuance and musicianship that offers a bit more than the simplistic blasting or one-dimensional grooves you’d expect from either genre. It’s likely to take a few times through Septisk Eradikasyon to catch some of the details though, as with how quick these songs are there’s a blink and you’ll miss it feel to some of the transitions. Sometimes the brief dip into slower chugs gives off a Cannibal Corpse meets Autopsy vibes, other moments channel pure Carcass, and closer “Simmered in Mephitis” even goes for a sudden burst of D-beat. Sound wise the guitars are a little bit filthier but for the most part this EP maintains a lot of the production elements that its predecessor established. Given how that worked so well last year that’s once again the case here, and you can already hear a few pushes forward in terms of the type of death metal and grind Septage is stringing together.
All three members once again contribute vocals, which provides a wide range of very distorted and often gross sounding pitches. This is where the band has often sounded the closest to goregrind, as they use that same pitch shifting approach that makes every gurgle and growl sound like it’s submerged in sewage. But rather than sticking with this approach for the entire time, Septage has the tendency to throw in some more traditional death metal growls and screams that shake things up from one minute to the next. The gurgles are always a bit of an acquired taste for some, but if you’re like me and don’t mind some Last Days of Humanity vocals in the middle of some filthy death metal then this will be quite appealing.
Despite the quick turnaround, Septage is still blurring the lines between death metal and grind in ways that are a lot of fun to listen to. They move from riff to riff in such a flurry that you might miss some of the finer details the first time around, but that’s what has continued to drawn me back. There have been enough little tweaks to the songwriting that keeps things from feeling like this second release is a retread, though I am curious if the band will keep doing these quick bursts or go for a longer full-length. But wherever Septage chooses to go, for now they’ve put out two top notch efforts that could easily be played side by side. Septisk Eradikasyonis available from Me Saco un Ojo Records, Dark Descent Records, and Desiccated Productions.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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