Pure fucking Death Metal “recorded in the catacombs”, is what SAVAGE ANNIHILATION offer here, a French brutal act. “Quand S’Abaisse La Croix Du Blasphème” is the title of their second full-length, released last year by French label XenoKorp and it is the one I’m reviewing here. ‘Dévorante Dégénérescence Anthropophage’, the first track, starts off with some slow patterns adorned with double kicks and dissonant guitars. You can hear a cool bass solo before the song becomes a fast monster filled with death growls, blast beat, and great tempo changes. The second track, ‘Par-Delà Les Dunes De Cadavres’, is pure MORBID ANGEL worship from the first note. The bass takes a great relevance here. This track is crowned with a really great guitar. Plus the third track, entitled ‘Quand S’Abaisse La Croix Du Blasphème’, this is one of the longest compositions here, averaging 8 minutes each. ‘Quand S’Abaisse…’ begins off with a spoken and screamed intro. From the first minute the song is a great Death Metal track: fast drumming charged with a huge dose of blast beat and double kicks, nice work on guitars that can be heard on the whole song, including a great solo, brutal vocals, a solid line on bass and technical resources from time to time. This French trio works with really good tempo changes. If you want an idea of everything this album is (and is not…), there is no better track to check out than this. ‘Organe Après Organe’ and ‘Hyrreit’, track 4 and 5 respectively, maintain the good performance and music that can be heard on the first three tracks. One of the best riffs can be heard in ‘Hyrreit’. ‘Le Tombeau De L’Atrocité’ is the last track here and is an acoustic guitar and feminine vocals composition that is totally out of place here. It reminds me of the song ‘About Solitude’ on the “Sublime Dementia” full-length by their countrymates LOUDBLAST. Anyway, there must be a reason to put that track here. I’m not sure, but apparently, everything is sung in French (just read the song titles). In conclusion, you can hear some clear MORBID ANGEL, SUFFOCATION, DIABOLIC, LOUDBLAST (two first albums) and early NILE influences (“In The Beginning” compilation). The vocals remind me a bit of David Vincent and the production is appropriate enough for a contemporary Death Metal act. Great stuff! Get it here: www.xenokorp.com. And follow SAVAGE ANNIHILATION here: www.facebook.com/savageannihilation