The guys from Long Island felt that death metal was not brutal enough for them back at the end of the Eighties, and they created their own version, ‘slam’ metal, a version of death metal featuring characteristic ‘breakdowns’ that often prefaced a furious blastbeat or tempo change. On top of that were the incredible vocals from Frank Mullen, and it is no surprise that after their debut EP they were signed to Roadrunner Records for a multi-album deal and they soon found themselves working with Scott Burns at his legendary Morrisound Studios in Florida. This triple CD release captures their first three albums along with an interesting booklet containing an interview with guitarist Doug Cerrito.
1991’s ‘Effigy of the Forgotten’ is now recognised as a classic of the genre, with some saying that this is where brutal death metal actually started. To my ears it has much more than that, as while the music is undoubtedly extreme it is also highly technical with the band switching tempos and riffs and an argument could be that this is also extreme progressive technical metal in the way they shift it around so much. There is a great deal to take in, especially with Mullen providing a very different tale on death metal vocals – he may have been influenced by Chris Barnes but took it in a very different direction indeed.
Many Suffocation fans like to rapidly bypass 1993’s ‘Breeding The Spawn’, not due to the quality of the songs but rather due to the original production. Apparently, the label had decided to move away from Scott Burns, and the result is an album which has good material, yet there is a lack of cohesiveness, as while the band continue to experiment with how far they can push the death metal genre it just doesn’t bite like it should. Luckily, the label admitted their mistake and sent them back to Scott Burns for 1995’s ‘Pierced From Within’. It is certainly strange playing the albums back-to-back as the middle CD sounds so very different in its approach, which shows just how much impact a producer has on an album. Mullen had also changed his vocal style by now, so while it was as brutal as ever he was ensuring that people would more easily understand the lyrics, which makes this for me the most enjoyable of the first three albums. This was the end of the chapter for Suffocation as Roadrunner were changing direction and the band split up in 1998, only to reform in 2003 and keep flying the brutal metal flag, something they still do to the current day although there are no longer any original members in the band. It is an interesting look back at a very important band of the genre.
Rating: 7/10
Links:
https://www.suffocationofficial.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DissonanceProductionsUK/