Music journalist T. Coles delineated the album as "the soundtrack to a hack surgeon operating on you, then slowly offering the mirror so you can gaze on your new adjustments.

"[4][5] The album's instrumentation draws influence from "slow stuff" like Trouble, Saint Virus, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, and Pentagram.

Autopsy drummer and vocalist Chris Reifert said, "At that time there weren't many bands playing that kind of style, but we liked them all along with the fast stuff like Terrorizer, Slayer and Master.

[14] It includes rare rehearsal and live material for a bonus disc as well as demo versions of two songs — "Mauled to Death" and "Human Genocide" — which did not make the final cut on the original album.

[citation needed] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic called Severed Survival "one of the death metal genre's seminal cornerstones."

He also said, "Autopsy dealt in nothing but the roughest, basest brutality, and obviously death metal fans young and old wouldn't have it any other way, which is why Severed Survival maintains its vaunted place amidst the genre's defining early statements."

[citation needed] The album is highly influential in the death metal genre, going on to influence bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, and Dismember.