Artist: Savage
Country: The Netherlands
Label: Milkcow Records
Formats: 12″ EP
Year: 2026
Savage is a new Death Metal band from the north of The Netherlands and while there’s still not so much known about the band, at least it seems to have Michel Jonker in its line-up. Death Metal fanatics might remember his name from Entrapment, a band that came up with and thrived on the Old School Death Metal revival from around 2010. Or maybe from his brief involvement with Massive Assault. Others, with a bit wider view on extreme music might also remember the Crustcore band Makiladoras or the Grindcore outfit Suffering Quota. Savage is, pretty much, taking the best of both and transforms it in a rather catchy piece of Swedish Death Metal.
Swedish Death Metal, yes, with lots of HM2-buzzsawing for those who still have an unquenchable thirst for that Skogsberg sound, some tasty dynamics, melodies, leads and, not in the least: a good dry sounding grunt. Yet, this is only like 80% of the picture. The rest is used for a bit of a grinding/crusty edge. If that puts you off: relax. This isn’t Disfear or Driller Killer, so don’t worry. But, for sure, there is a solid Punk vibe to the songs that immediately reminds me of Bastard Priest’s best work.
But, regardless, if anything, ‘Septic Tomb’ shows that Savage is a relentless Death Metal machine, formed by absolute professional musicians who know their craft. The sound is phat and meaty with just enough murk so that it both highlights the heavy riffs and allows the overall music not too sound too clean. The aforementioned dynamics definitely needs a mention here as well, as this too serves a very important role to keep you focussed on the music. There’s already more than enough boring, mid-tempo, grooving and disposable Death Metal being poured over us, Savage has all the essential ingredients nicely aligned and the result is a feast for all of you who still like to blast their Dismember, Interment, Grave or Carnage records.
So far ‘Septic Tomb’ has only been announced to get a 12” EP treatment through a Dutch label called Milkcow Records – if you never heard about them, that has a reason, as it seems some sort of hippie label. So people who like to have their music on other formats still need to wait and see what happens next.
