Savaging
Vignettes of Cruelty and Callousness

"A Black Metal debut composed of eight tracks that paint a sonic portrait of depravity, desire, cruelty and delirium of a fractured psyche."

— Into Extinction, 2025

"Vignettes of Cruelty and Callousness" is the debut of Savaging, a Californian duo made up of Nox Timor (instruments) and Glossolalion (vocals), released by Into Extinction in July 2025.

We are faced with an album that decisively places itself within the darkest and most atmospheric coordinates of black metal, in particular in its depressive and suicidal branches.

The sound is deeply emotional, marked by slow tempos, cyclic and claustrophobic riffs, with a sober yet effective use of melody. There is little indulgence in post-black drift, and this is one of the record’s greatest virtues: "Vignettes of Cruelty and Callousness" avoids the more modern, polished, and excessively harmonious superstructures of the genre, instead remaining anchored to an old-school approach. In this respect, the atmospheres might call to mind historic bands such as Forgotten Woods in the more melodic moments, or the most extended and obsessive episodes of Conte. At the same time, there are affinities with more recent US projects like Chaos Moon, and at certain points you can even sense the anguished echoes of Nyktalgia’s works, merged with the dreamlike, intoxicated, and pathos-laden mysticism of a band I personally love: Urfaust.

What makes the full-length effective is its balance between stasis and movement: the songwriting is slow, oppressive, painful, but without ever falling into repetitiveness. The structures often open up to sudden restarts, with the group launching into accelerations typical of traditional black metal. The emotional tension never slackens: this is an intense, sincere work, devoid of mannerisms, which captivates precisely because it refuses a forced aestheticization of pain.

The melodies, carefully dosed, help build a crepuscular and naturalistic aura, in some ways close to the darkest edges of Cascadian, though never fully embracing them: never excessively diluting the sonic extremity of the most ancestral black flame. The intentionally raw production further reinforces the sense of decay and isolation that permeates the entire work.

Ultimately, "Vignettes of Cruelty and Callousness" is a coherent, mature, and passionate effort that lucidly and consciously draws on the most authentic roots of depressive black metal, without merely resulting in imitation. Of course, there will be those — equipped with rainbow tastes and a refined palate — who will point out minor flaws... it’s not their fault.

A debut that both strikes and convinces, and is probably among the best releases of 2025 in the extreme underground.