We are living in a time of reissues, so every band for some years is putting out a compilation of their old material: demos, EPs, splits, rare songs and stuff like that. This time it’s SEVERANCE from Texas. The band started its path in 1990, but their first album “What Lies Ahead…” came out only in 1999, in a very bad moment for the Death Metal underground, for many reasons. But they have never given up, and have moved on to publish an album every five years until 2017. So, SEVERANCE decided to publish some of their old material from 1990 to 1996 (the first demo “Procreation” is missing). Here we have the “Afterbirth Of Infamy” demo, the “Abysmal Ascent” 7 inch and the cult EP “Salvation Denied”. There is something else to say about those recordings. They are all with the same line-up, the first line-up of the band (except for guitarist Ariel Menchaca, who joined the band in 1991 after the quit of Ralph Gutierrez). After 1996 this line-up exploded and only drummer Jaime Perez remained and a new era of the band started with a completely different line-up. Ok cool story, but what about the music? During the compilation we can hear the evolution of the band, from very raw and badly recorded Death Metal of the demo, without any personal direction, to a way better recording of the 7 inch. “Abysmal Ascent” came out originally on the cult label Drowned Productions, known mainly for DEMIGOD, PURTENANCE and PYREXIA. So in those two songs we can hear a band that sounds like a mix of the early-days of PESTILENCE and DEICIDE of the self-titled album, such great stuff with a clean and brutal sound. “Salvation Denied” has even better songs, memorable riffs, sinister melodies and awesome growls everywhere! This EP has very long songs (5, 6, 7 and 10 minutes of length), but isn’t heavy to listen to. Those four songs, as you can imagine, are more technical and complex than those from the demo. But we are facing the same band that has grown up as musicians, that has improved its techniques and their musical knowledge, and this kind of compilation is the best way to see it. So this is a good opportunity to discover another underground gem: SEVERANCE from Texas! For more information check out www.facebook.com/severancemetal or www.facebook.com/repugnantmetalrecords