Suffocation is American Brutal Death Metal band that was formed in 1988 in Centereach, Long Island, New York, United States. Suffocation are widely recognized major innovators of death metal. They had a massive influence on the genre and pioneered the balance between brutal and techincal sounds commonly heard in modern death metal. Frank Mullen is considered as one of the most emblematic death metal vocalists, as well as one of the first to use a very deep "death growl" vocal style and his hand chop, off course.
Suffocation had set the bar for technically brutal Death Metal. Even to this day they have stayed true to their roots (unlike countless bands). Some people may hold their snobby noses to this band, but secretly sneak listens when no one is listening. A band that started back in 1990 have evolved and one of the afterbirths of that evolution is Pierced from Within. [1]
This album is basically like a maze, there are so many paths, you can easily get lost, or in this case, so many riffs, you can forget which riff goes where. When I first listened to this, I had the hardest time getting into this album. It was definitely one of the tougher albums (Bands also, in general) to finally "get" because of their generally awkward, abstract style. After listening to this many times, I think the band "clicked" and so did this album. A very rewarding experience. [2]
I am not going to rehash was most people know... it's brutal and technical yah yah, but what is different about this album then the previous two. The main body of the riffs are thrashy and executed in short shredding bursts. The semi-technical fret dancing by Hobbs is properly placed through out each song and gives this album a better sense of atomsphere. Maybe not as melodic as the Swedish kind, but that was never Suffocations aim. What has created a shift in song writing and stucture is the drums. This time around Smith has sat this one out and Doug Bohn has stepped in for the fight. To my suprise this has opened up Suffocation's sound to a more varied and organic feel. Instead of the constant cold mechanical blasting listeners were accustom to Bohn delivers more variety. The problem with Smith was he used blasting to fill out every part of a song (as if he did know what else to do), where (for example) double bass could have broken up the blandness of constant grind drumming. Note worthy, the drum sound does not over power the music and instead there is greater thickness in the riffs and bass quitar. [1]
Anyways, onto the review of the album. Every instrument and aspect of this album can be heard. This album is generally clustered with so many different riffs it can be very hard to follow at first, but if you listen to it enough times you will notice that all the songs stand out. The guitar work and drumming are very technical, it's hard to appreciate at first. Throw in some "melody" (Don't panic if any of you hate it, there's very little melody here). The drumming is outstanding, and you can't notice Mike Smith was actually substituted as well. Every musician shines here, and this makes this their "Best work yet". [2]
The producer on this album is another Scott Burns production, although I generally hate some of his production jobs (Death's Human for example, the bass is way too low in the mix) but here, he makes every instrument heard clearly. There is almost an atmosphere of depravity, and gloom here, this contributes to the abstract feel of this album as well. [2]
You can't complain about Suffocation's Pierced from Within, this album delivers what the fans of the genre want. If you don't like "brutal" Death Metal, why even bother. To complain about this album's merits is like a person who hates cheese cake whining about the whole cheese cake he just ate. [1]
Tracks
- Pierced from Within
- Thrones of Blood
- Depths of Depravity
- Suspended in Tribulation
- Torn into Enthrallment
- The Invoking
- Synthetically Revived
- Brood of Hatred
- Breeding the Spawn
If you like it, please buy it on their official website/merchandise.
Suffocation - Pierced from Within (1995)
This review published by Fatal_Premonitions [1] and LetTheReignBegin [2] on Metallum
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