Scrawl from The Saw’s Butcher Shop: Septicflesh — Modern Primitive (2022) ALBUM REVIEW

/ THE SAW

What’s up, Butcher Crew?! As you know, it’s ya girl, your Master Butcher, The Saw. And I’ve come today bearing a New Album Review – SepticFlesh have released their 11th full-length album, Modern Primitive, on May 20, 2022 (Nuclear Blast). Now, you already know that The Saw is a categorical thinker. But it’s getting more and more difficult to maintain clear lines of distinction between categories, especially with all the new albums dropping that are purposely unclear! I prefer the use of sub-genres for this reason. SepticFlesh fits firmly in the Death Metal genre, and the Symphonic sub-genre (IMO).

So, what makes Modern Primitive even more difficult to nail down is the fact that, the Symphonic aspect of their sound gives the record a Blackened flavor. Thus, Blackened could be SepticFlesh’s sub-category, but only after placing them into the Symphonic sub-genre of Death Metal! (LOL)

Bygones… I digress.

Modern Primitive is a banger, no matter the category! It is the natural evolution of a band that has been moving this direction for 30 years. From 1990 – 2003 the band was known as Septic Flesh. Then, they disappeared, dissolving into many other bands and projects. In 2007 SepticFlesh emerged with a large sound to match the new version of the name. In 2018 the band inked a deal with Nuclear Blast, after having been on several labels for the previous 10 albums. In 2019 SepticFlesh performed live, in Mexico, with a full orchestra and choir. The show was recorded and distributed by Season of Mist. This show gave us a hint of the present state of the band. And it’s impressive!

Modern Primitive contains crushing riffs, hooks that give you stank-face, and devastating deep register gutterals, but also a full sonic symphony and choir, with excellent clean vocals to accentuate the points, and various stringed selections to offset the pounding riffs. It’s very interesting, what SepticFlesh is doing, here. They have never been a band to blend in with the crowd, but this new record pushes boundaries (and categories!).

Septic Flesh (aka, SepticFlesh) formed in Athens, Greece in 1990.

  • Spiros Antoniou – unclean vocals, bass (1990-2003, 2007 – present)
  • Christos Antoniou – lead guitar, orchestrations (1990-2003, 2007 – present)
  • Sotiris Vayenas – clean vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, lyrics (1990-2003, 2007 – present)
  • Dinos Prassas – rhythm guitar (touring 2008-2018, 2018 – present)
  • Kerim Lechner – drums (2014 – present)

Studio Album Discography:

  • Mystic Places of Dawn (1994) – via Holy Records, Season of Mist
  • Esoptron (1995) – via Holy Records, Season of Mist
  • Ophidian Wheel (1997) – via Holy Records, Season of Mist
  • A Fallen Temple (1998) – via Holy Records, Season of Mist
  • Revolution DNA (1999) – via Holy Records
  • Sumerian Daemons (2003) – via Hammerheart
  • Communion (2008) – via Season of Mist
  • The Great Mass (2011) – via Season of Mist
  • Titan (2014) – via Season of Mist, Prosthetic Records, Ward Records
  • Codex Omega (2017) – via Season of Mist, Prosthetic Records, Ward Records
  • Modern Primitive (2022) – Nuclear Blast

Interesting fact: The Modern Primitive album artwork is by visual artist Seth Siro Anton, which is a pseudonym for Spiros Antoniou (unclean vocals, bass). He created the cover art for nearly every SepticFlesh album, as well as cover art for many other bands, such as Decapitated, Vader, Paradise Lost, Belphegor, Nile, Soilwork, Heaven Shall Burn, Old Man’s Child, and many more.

Rating: 10/10!! Brilliant Death Metal, Symphonic and Blackened!

Favorite Songs: The Collector, Hierophant, Neuromancer, Coming Storm, and the Title Track

Stay Metal,

THE SAW