I rarely get into anything personal in my reviews, but I’m going to make a brief exception here. I’ve always considered my interest in the occult and the esoteric a direct result of my upbringing as a pastor’s son. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but a childhood spent fearing the concept of evil has led to an adulthood of seeking out the most evil shit I can find. From movies to books to music, nothing fascinates me as much as the Mephistophelian (thank you to the Thesaurus for that one).
Why mention any of this? Well NYC’s SAVAGE PLEASURE just dropped one of the gnarliest and evil sounding records I’ve heard in a minute. The self-titled debut is an impressively cinematic listen start to finish that doesn’t even require you to spin it backwards. Opening with a desolate synth like something from the soundtrack of an 80’s horror movie, things shift into a dungeon-y acoustic guitar intro before going full on thrash-y crust on second track “The Sickening Fear”. Sonically I can’t think of a better comparison than the ones I’ve already heard floating around: a 50/50 mix of CELTIC FROST and AMEBIX. From the riffs on riffs on riffs to the blistering drums to the gnarled vocals that sound like Captain Howdy speaking via Reagan, I can’t get enough of this album. Its difficult to choose a favorite track but if I had to I’d probably go with closer “Chasms of Distant Dreams”, a riff-laden onslaught that starts with the same lone acoustic guitar that we began with. It even has some creepy spoken word moments that sound like the band attempting to summon some nefarious spirits. You get the picture, if you need a soundtrack to your next Ouija Board session, I‘d have to recommend SAVAGE PLEASURE.
Available now on Toxic State Records.
