Cutler said the album's tracks were composed by "[getting] really stoned and playing guitar." Recording for the album began after Coralles had been in the band for approximately seven days.[1]
Although Peaveville Records alloted the band a USD$5,000 budget to produce the album, they "spent half of it on weed." The remaining funds gave the band four days to complete the album, and it was finished with very few overdubs. At the time, the band did not disclose to their label that they had used their funds to buy marijuana.[2]
Although the album's bass guitar tracks were performed by Steve DiGiorgio of Sadus, Ken Sorvali is credited as having performed bass guitar on the album. According to Cutler, the band was under the impression that Sorvali would be in the band, so he was listed in the album's notes. DiGiorgio, who had already known the band, was recruited as an "emergency bass player" and quickly recorded his bass tracks on the album after only a few times practicing with the band.[3]
Musical style and composition
Rooted in Bay Area thrash metal and incorporating elements of doom metal, the sound on Severed Survival has been described as "gloomy", "gruesome," and "moody." Music journalist T. Coles delineated the album as "the soundtrack to a hack surgeon operating on you, then slowly offering the mirror so you can gaze on your new adjustments."[4][5] The album's instrumentation draws influence from "slow stuff" like Trouble, Saint Virus, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, and Pentagram. Autopsy drummer and vocalist Chris Reifert said, "At that time there weren't many bands playing that kind of style, but we liked them all along with the fast stuff like Terrorizer, Slayer and Master. In terms of playing, we just wanted to be heavy."[6] The guitar tones of Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles have been described as "sludgey", and their riffs have been described as "razor-sharp."[7]
The album is notable for its bass sound which was mixed much higher than all the other tracks.[citation needed] The album's production values have been described as "rather incompetent."[8]Metal Hammer called the album "subversive, even by death metal standards" and made note of the album's "weird detours into crippling doom and some of the goofiest lyrics of all time".[9]
The guitar solos on "Gasping For Air" have been described as "surprisingly musical," and as "[constituting the album's] only remote elements of melody." Coralles said the album's guitar solos were "part well thought out compositions and part mindless drunken perverted gifts from the gods".[10][11]
The album's lyrical themes have been called "sickening," and draw heavily on horror, death and gore concepts, continuing in the style of Reifert's former band, Death. Reifert's vocals have been noted for their "croaking delivery."[12] Although the tracks are not inspired directly by horror films, the title track is based on Stephen King's short story "Survivor Type."[citation needed]
Reifert claims that neither versions of the cover artwork created for the album relate to the lyrics.[13]
Re-releases
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. To coincide with the album's 20th anniversary, Peaceville Records released a special two-disc edition of Severed Survival on February 23, 2009.[14] 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.[citation needed]
Legacy
Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic called Severed Survival "one of the death metal genre's seminal cornerstones." He also said, "Autopsy dealt in nothing but the roughest, basest brutality, and obviously death metal fans young and old wouldn't have it any other way, which is why Severed Survival maintains its vaunted place amidst the genre's defining early statements." Metal Hammer called the album "one of the genre’s first masterworks".[15][16] Joe DiVita of Loudwire referred to the album's alternate cover as one of the scariest heavy metal album covers of all time, saying it was "clearly better than the original".[17]
