REVIEW: Savage - Septic Tomb
- Noise Leonard
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
Dutch death metal group SAVAGE are finally ready to release their first studio EP. Featuring members from ENTRAPMENT, they’re not exactly new to the scene, but as SAVAGE, their sole release until now was a fairly promising demo from 2023. In those three tracks they made it clear what they’re here to do - harken back to old-school death metal, taking clear influence from ENTOMBED (specifically their earlier releases under the name NIHILIST).
They further this goal on Septic Tomb, with four new songs here to sink our teeth into.
We open with Nightmares, unrelenting from the get go, pounding drums play in time with a chugging riff, swirling around both channels before assaulting your ears a particularly gnarly lead riff after upping the tempo. It’s only then that the raspy vocals come in, paired with the whirlwind of instrumentation that never seems to be able to stay still for even a second. More tempo changes, wild guitar solos and what almost sound like doom riffs played in double speed, this track keeps you on your feet the whole way through.
Second track S.A.V.A.G.E. opens with a quick stick count-in followed by an intro that wouldn’t feel out of place on a deathgrind record. The song takes a quick breath, with layers of feedback and distortion, before launching back into full throttle. An intensely noisy track that once again never lets up. So far on this record, SAVAGE are proving how relentless their performances can sound, two tracks in and we’ve already heard tight arrangements with the band members playing like one uniform group. The synergy between performers here is really something to behold.
They show this once again on Spectral Torment. The first half of the track is quite the slow-burn, priming you for a blitzing during the second half, an infernal piece of music that makes you feel like your skin’s melting off. The title track, Septic Tomb, has possibly the most guttural vocal performance here, a similar cadence to each phrase adding a complete new layer of filth to compliment those nasty-sounding guitars.
The last three tracks on here are from the aforementioned Demo I, released in 2023. It’s immediately clear from the opening moments of Mortal Decay that these songs were recorded separately, with significantly more lo-fi production and echoing vocals. The performances here are still wonderfully intense, and arguably even more claustrophobic, though it is somewhat jarring.
Unfortunately, this issue never really goes away, even by the end of closing tracks Revulsion and Malformation, which is a shame because the former contains some of the most engaging guitarplay on this release. The moment when both guitars intersect at the two minute mark is possibly the best few seconds the EP has to offer.
The strange thing about Septic Tomb is that almost every track here presents something fantastic, and yet it never fully reaches its potential. It’s hard not to get hung up on the sheer incongruency between the production during the first four tracks and the last three. If you can get past that, SAVAGE have made a great death metal release that has clearly been made with a lot of appreciation for their forefathers, but as it stands, it ends up a somewhat confusing listen as points.
Score: 7/10
Septic Tomb will be released on 4th July 2026 via Dawnbreed Records/Necrolatry Records.
Words: Noise Leonard
Photos: Savage
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