Savage – Malignant Reveries (Septic Dutch Death Metal)
Funny, yesterday I was talking about how certain countries need to have their death metal considered a genre within itself outside of Sweden, and someone in a comment said something like “what about Netherlands?” Well, here you go fool. The art was damn hard to work with for a reel header, but I couldn’t pass up on this sound, fuck. One strange detail for this is the band’s been around since 2023 with only one demo and one EP prior to this full-length and on Metallum you see a full band, but for this particular debut, only a single dude? I mean dude can clearly rip but what happened to the other guys lol? Most likely live but wow, one dude? He even did the art! Shit.
Malignant Reveries is the new old school and septic as hell. Savage works a very particular angle of extremely accessible riff smash, messy solos that ring out when needed, and vocal delivery that stays consistently angry, but never reeks of repetition, just pure spite. Shit spits on your face while screaming and you probably got a few diseases from it. Usually a band like this doing the “what Carcass should have sounded like” sound is over in a few songs because of the generally simplistic approach, but Malignant Reveries is a shocking thirteen tracks long and I can’t say one felt like another at any point. Putting together a package like this and doing it with variety is the task of a God, and let’s consider band lead Michel Jonker representative of true European death! Now it’s time for Netherlands Death Metal to become the genre that it always was! Spread the word!
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Savage – Malignant Reveries
Hammerheart Records
Cover Art: Michel Jonker
4.4 / 5
