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, of course.
The year is 1998, Suffocation have already released 1 Ep, and 3 albums. Judging from the sound of those releases, Its clear why Suffocation are the innovators of brutal death metal in general, and have established a name for themselves to where bands from different regions are "plagiarising" their sound, which proves why they are truly a brand in death metal in itself. [1]
You may read:
- Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten (1991)
- Suffocation - Pierced from Within (1995)
- Suffocation - Suffocation (2006)
"Despise the sun" is an amazing follow-up to their immensely creative and innovative full-length release “Pierced from within”. Although short in length, this ep reinforces the fact that Suffocation possesses an amazing chemistry that will always place them at the top of the brutal death metal pyramid. [2]
With that being said, the 5 songs on here are amazing, and clock in around 16 minutes, but hell the listening experience is sure worth it. This is their last release for a while after they broke up so this would be considered as a filler for me in between "Pierced From Within", and their long hiatus. [1]
The listener is thrown immediately into a pit of rabid dogs with the opening track "Funeral Inception". Dave Culross's command of the drum kit is flawless throughout this entire album, but his creativity really stands out in the first 50 seconds of this song. He builds up the anticipation with a slick 32nd note snare roll followed by a complete explosion of unrelenting blast beat mayhem. He proves within the first minute of the song that he was a worthy replacement for Mike Smith. [2]
The Ep's sound is great. The mix, and production is great you can hear no distortions of any kind. The bass is very audible throughout the album, and adds some punchy flavor to each of the songs. Guitar work is crisp as ever, and follows the same intricate path as "Pierced From Within" did. The vocals really show Frank Mullen's true vocal ability, and potential to where he literally sounds like the pissed off version of the cookie monster in almost every track. Not to mention, he's more coherent here then his predecessors so its easy to tell what he says without having to read the lyrics. The drums however, don't have that Mike Smith tangible feel i would generally hear in albums such as "Effigy of the Forgotten" or "Breeding the Spawn". Dave Culross can't touch Mike Smith's "sound" that makes Suffocations sound so brutal. One things for certain though, his drumming manages to fit perfect with the bands sound with his blast beats, drum fills, odd timings, double bass, and slow tempo breakdowns. The atmosphere the sound on "Despise the sun" creates is great thanks to these talented musicians. [1]
The guitar tones are incredibly heavy and thick and sit well in the mix. The Bass guitar is not hidden but lacks a little thickness. This is partially due to the fact the kick drum is filling in that void. Many great production values exist on this album. Thanks to Scott Burns for harnessing the amazing talent within this group and for turning out another well-balanced and tight sounding record. [2]
The overall verdict is that this Ep is great. It has that typical Suffocation sound you would expect to hear except this album makes me feel like I'm listening to a deathcore album. Wait did I just said that? Well this wasn't intentionally supposed to be done that way, but its clear to me that starting with this release, Suffocation are not only the innovators of brutal/slam metal, but also deathcore along with "Dying Fetus". You can hear the influence it has on the genre from the slow tempo breakdown in "Funeral Inception", which has that typical deathcore breakdown you'd hear in today's standards. [1]
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Frank fucking kills it the entire time with a voice that could make the devil himself shit in his pants. Frank’s vocal creativity really stands out on the closing track “Catatonia” where he synchronizes his vocals with Dave’s pulverizing drums near the end of the track. There are short pauses followed by blast beat explosions. One of Frank’s vocal strengths is his deep pulverizing growls. This facet of Franks voice really adds a degree of brutality, which elevates the bands heaviness factor to a higher level. Another track that Frank really stands out on is “Devoid of Truth”. It begins with the sentence: “Your life has been planned since the day you were born” followed by some strong screams both high and low pitched. This track has to be one of the strongest for me on the album, too bad it’s the shortest (2:31). The lyrical content within the entire album is very cerebral and meaningful. You can tell Frank put a lot of time and effort into the lyrics, which resulted in a very cool and creative album lyrically. [2]
All in all, this album is a monster. I won’t comment much more because frankly, you just need to listen to it, again and again. It’s all you could want from a brutal death metal album and much more. [2]
Tracks
- Funeral Inception
- Devoid of Truth
- Despise The Sun
- Bloodchurn
- Catatonia
If you like it, please buy their original CD or Digital Album on official website/store.
These reviews are written by Meximetal 95 and Weakling 666 on Metallum
[1]Meximetal 95, Some of The Best Material Suffocation Has Out, www.metal-archives.com
[2]Weakling 666, Another Masterpiece, www.metal-archives.com
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