''Severed Survival'' is the debut album by

Autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

released in 1989. This album somewhat continues in the style of Reifert's former band Death. Lyrically the band thrives heavily on horror, death and gore concepts; nevertheless these are not inspired directly by horror movies, although the title track is based on Stephen King's short story "

Survivor Type ''Survivor Type'' is a horror short story by Stephen King, first published in the 1982 horror anthology ''Terrors'', edited by Charles L. Grant, and included in King's 1985 collection ''Skeleton Crew''. Speaking about the story, King says: "As f ...

." The album was very influential for future

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

acts such as

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radi ...

, Entombed, and Dismember. It was also a pioneer of gore lyrics. The album features

Steve DiGiorgio Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for working with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autop ...

on bass. Various re-releases exist with different bonus tracks and bonus CDs. Furthermore, a different cover exists for this album, which depicts the point of view of the person receiving the autopsy. The album is notable for its bass sound which was mixed much higher than all the other tracks. To coincide with the album's 20th anniversary, Peaceville Records released a special two-disc edition of ''Severed Survival'' on February 23, 2009. It includes rare rehearsal and live material for a bonus disc as well as demo versions of two songs — "Mauled to Death" and "Human Genocide" — which did not make the final cut on the original album. Also featured in the package is a booklet with notes by the band themselves, detailing the history of Autopsy's early years, with rare photos and images. The reissue also includes two new Autopsy tracks that were recorded in September 2008, and are included on the reissue's second disc.

Track listing

All songs written by

Chris Reifert Chris Reifert (born February 23, 1968) is an American death metal musician, and one of the pioneers of the death/doom genre. Although his music is more death metal than doom metal, he is one of the first musicians that blended the two styles. ...

, except where noted.

Personnel

;Autopsy *

- Vocals, Drums * Danny Coralles - Guitar * Eric Cutler - Guitar ;Session musician *

- Bass ;Production * Recorded in January 1989 at Starlight Sound * Produced by

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

and

* Engineered by John Marshall * Cover art by Kent Mathieu * Cover art by Kev Walker (Alternative cover)

References

{{Authority control Autopsy (band) albums 1989 debut albums Peaceville Records albums