SAVAGIST is a sludge metal band from Georgia, and I have to be honest, they pleasantly surprised me. The first track, "Remove Brains for Tanning", starts off deceptively slow and builds over all 4 minutes of the song. "Nourishment for Larval" keeps up that trend, starting off fairly quick and furious but gaining momentum with every passing minute. "Fangs that Drip Venom" is about half the length of the first two songs but it maintains a breakneck speed and screaming vocals from the start that make it an intense ride. Things slow way down for the imposing intro to "Invisible Birth of Death" and there are long pauses where all you hear are the last fading drum beats before the next begins. That and the hushed, echoing vocals, make for a tense song that builds back all over again.

Once again, kicking up the pace a notch, we come to "Trembling Earth", with its screeching vocals pushing me to grip my chair with white knuckles, glad I didn't have neighbors. "Rabid Decomposer" is one of the fastest offerings from SAVAGIST on this album; while the speed and technical prowess made me wish the album was another song or two longer. "Black and Endless" closes the circle with a haunting and morbid intro that wouldn't be out of place in Hollywood horror flicks...and that is a good thing! I loved the sound of this one and would love to hear an album that centered on the sound offered in the final track. To be honest, while the album, as a whole, works because of how the tempo rises and falls, that also made it fairly predictable and formulaic. I liked the music, but there just wasn't anything to make me go crazy. If you are into sludge metal, check out "Invisible Birth of Death", or at least listen to a song and judge for yourself.