I’m not going to go so far as to say Nasty Savage is a Death Metal band, but when you look at this release from 1985 I can definitely see some of the influence these guys would have had on bands like Obituary and even the band Death. Their guitar tone as pretty much Death Metal and was probably used as a blue print for early bands like the above mentioned Death and Obituary.
Nasty Savage wrote some cool songs. I have to say their guitar player Dave Austin (well I assume it’s him responsible for the majority of the guitar lines) is quite revolutionary especially considered he started the band in 1983 with the singer. As someone that got into Death Metal not long after the bands they influenced appeared on the screen I can definitely see this. The production on their first record is pretty top notch too I have to say. It perfectly embodies the Florida Death Metal Sound in a time when the early 80’s new wave of black death metal was pumping out some really shitty recordings. This record is not the greatest either but its sounds quite clean and the dude has some amazing guitar chops. The songs are well crafted and this is an instantly likeable recording. When you put this on make sure you give it a couple of listens as it really grows on you the second time. This is infinitely more listenable than many of their counterparts were putting out in Europe at the time.
Overall this is quite an enjoyable little release. There’s some great metal anthems and I can only imagine this would have been a hit with anyone that heard it at the time. I wouldn’t go as far as to say its an essential part of everyone’s collection its fun to listen to and cool little history lesson on the origins of at least the Florida death metal scene! At least be sure to give it a couple of listens on you tube to decide for yourself.
For more great album reviews be sure to keep checking back on Metalhed.com on a regular basis!