Bio

Ralph Gutierrez, Frank Sarinana, Oliver Gutierrez, Lee Sarinana and Jaime Perez got together in May of 1989 and decided to begin creating music aimed at pleasing those with a liking for the extreme. Twenty years later, this entity, Severance, still continues on with its quest to create aggressive death metal. It all began with a 3-song rehearsal demo titled Procreation. This demo was recorded in 1990 in the living room of a friend’s house and was done completely by the band—complete raw and inexperienced with the recording process. This demo received more attention than was expected, giving the band worldwide exposure in various ‘zines and radio stations. Being a little unhappy with the sound quality of the final product, Severance decided to hit the studio to re-record these same three songs in addition to two other songs; in 1991, Afterbirth of Infamy was spawned to the death metal underground. This release was done at Pro Sound Recordings by a bunch of close-minded studio engineers that really didn’t’ want us there. The final product took a little longer than it should have because the studio owner/engineers didn’t want to spend any of their time on our style of music. Needless to say, this released further accomplished Severance’s place in the death metal underground. Due to line-up changes, these two demos have been the only two Severance releases that have featured the same band members. Afterbirth of Infamy received the attention of Spain’s Drowned Productions, and the band signed a contract to release their first 7” record in 1992 titled Abysmal Ascent. This piece of vinyl included two new songs that were recorded at Texas Sunrise Studios. The recording process went much more smoothly because of the time, understanding and effort being given by the studio owner. This release did significantly well and sold out of its initial pressing. Line-up changes continued to plague the band, which naturally stunted the bands ability to continue writing and performing. After several years of instability, Severance resurfaced with its first CD release in 1996. This was the self-financed, 4-song release Salvation Denied. This was done at Sound Masters Studio (later to become Sound Playground Studio). Only 576 copies of this disc were manufactured, and they sold out rather quickly. This release featured Severance’s first attempt at composing a song with Spanish lyrics in “Holocausto Obscurro.” It took Severance half a decade to complete the next release. In 2001, Severance signed with Repulse Records (formerly Drowned Productions) from Spain with intentions of releasing …what lies ahead. Repulse was having financial difficulties and ended up selling the rights to this album before going bankrupt to WWIII Records in California. Severance felt that this album didn’t get the promotion it deserved, so it was re-released in early 2006 by Burning Dogma Records in Texas. In the time between the re-release of …what lies ahead and Salvation Denied, the band was continuing to persevere through more personnel changes but kept with the writing process. The material composed during this period was recorded and released by Goregiastic Records from New York in 2006. This release was titled Suffering in Humanity. This release featured a cover song of one of the band’s many Latin metal influences, Pentagram from Chile. The contractual obligation with Goregiastic Records was for one full-length album, so now Severance is in the process of releasing its latest CD, titled The Truth in Question. Because our earlier material is difficult to get a hold of and can only be purchased by paying outrageous prices on E-bay, Severance decided to release the band’s earlier material on this archival release, and with the help of Burning Dogma Records, Progression towards Purgatory has come to fruition. In these 20 years, Severance has shared the stage with such bands as Morbid Angel, dead horse, Devastation, Aborted, Skinless, Immolation, Despised Icon, Severe Torture, Devourment, Thornspawn, Rotting Christ, Brujeria, Cephalic Carnage, Lividity, Prophecy, Monstrosity, and many more. In addition, Severance has met many friends on the road that have helped give meaning to these past 20 years. It is unknown how much longer Severance will continue to engage in the art of extreme metal, but one thing is sure—the journey has definitely been worth it.

Jaime Perez/Severance