Archives of the Dead part XX: BODY BAG - Severed Existence

ARCHIVES OF THE DEAD part XX: BODY BAG - Severed Existence (Demo 1993)

Line up: C.J. Mikiten (bass), Jimmy "The Typhoon" Littlefield (drums), Eric Flath (guitars), Travis Dahmen (guitars), Mike Dexter (vocals)

Love the old US death metal demos. Even those, which came from small, hardly known bands, are often killer and better than many of those well known, popular albums. I’m not saying that Body Bag from Oregon was spectacular and sensation, as they were not good enough to be praised so much, but for sure they were one of those very good bands that should have done a full length and get more recognition. Unfortunately they only did three or four demos and then just split up sadly. “Severed Existence” is their second demo and one, which I really enjoy a lot. It’s one of those unknown releases that maniacs of old styled death metal and the early 90’s scene should love with the whole heart as the music has everything that we like about this style of music.

And so what if “Severed Existence” has quite harsh production, which obviously is not as professional as Morrisound recordings? And so what if Body Bag death metal is quite unoriginal and foreseeable? It’s jusy fuckin crushing stuff anyway, reminding me bands like Baphomet a lot. Yes, “Severed Existence” sounds a lot like this fantastic Buffalo commando. And obviously you can also compare Body Bag to Morta Skuld, Obituary, Morpheus Descends, Suffocation and lot more. For me these aspects like similarity to other bands or lack of something truly distinguishable isn’t spoiling the listening to this demo at all and “Severed Existence” is delivering such a crushing and punching slab of brutal death metal that it’s just a must to play it loud and bang the head with maniacal passion. I like how fast this music gets, but there are also some quite memorable, slower riffs that rip the flesh apart. Songs like “Human Remains” and “Dumpsite” are surely my favourites and I as I wrote above, the sound, riffs and even the vocals remind me Baphomet more than any other band. And it’s great, since I love their demos and “Dead Shall Inherit” LP, so take that as a compliment and very good recommendation. Yeah, very nice demo indeed and I am only disappointed that Body Bag went so little noticed back then.

By the way, I’ve heard the rumours that all Body Bag demos will be released on CD. I know it happens to 99% of old demos and bands these days, so it’s nothing exciting and new, but I am definitely looking forward for this CD. It can be really nice release.

Final rate: 80/100