suffocation - self titled

Rating: 8.5

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1.Oblivion
2.Abomination Reborn
3.Redemption
4.Bind Torture Kill
5.Misconceived
6.Translucent Patterns of Delirium
7.Creed of the Infidel
8.Regret
9.Entrails of You
10.The End of Ends
11.Prelude to Repulsion

Band Website: Suffocation

Suffocation - Self-Titled

Frank Mullen - Vocals
Terrance Hobbs - Guitar
Guy Marchais - Guitar
Derek Boyer - Bass
Mike Smith - Drums

Well well.. the dreaded self-titled album from a well established band. Often these things can signal an impending creative death-knell, as previous efforts from the likes of Hypocrisy and Metallica have amply proved. In the case of Suffocation's self-titled endeavour though, it looks like this isn't the case. In fact, this is easily on par with ‘Despise the Sun', superior to ‘Breeding the Spawn' and ‘Souls to Deny', and nearly matches the greatness of their pinnacles ‘Effigy of the Forgotten' and ‘Pierced From Within'. Note I said “nearly”, because those albums are simply unsurpassable.

All this aside, this is one fucking splendid slab of classic death metal. Rather than make some lame attempt to play catchup with all the bands who ripped them off and replaced the gut-wrenching heaviness with pointless technical athleticism, Suffocation have simply taken their own style and forged it into a crushing hammer-blow. The other obvious unique factor here is the excellent production, which is nice and raw, far from the overpolished smoothness which marred 'Souls to Deny'. Mike Smith's drums have a shitload of impact, with a very organic snare sound complementing punchy kicks, while the guitars and bass are perfectly balanced to create a leaden weight of sound. Topping this off, the vocals are properly mixed this time, with no weird channel separation interfering with the sound. Of all the songs here, I'd probably tag “Abomination Reborn”, “Bind Torture Kill” and the crushing “Misconceived” as the pick of the bunch, but there's nary a weak moment to be heard anywhere on the entire 45 minute disc.

As far as songwriting goes, this is an entirely unique beast, not easily compared to previous efforts. It's probably closest to ‘Despise the Sun', but incorporates a lot of the slower elements mostly found on ‘Breeding The Spawn'. To that end, they've included an excellent re-working of “Prelude to Repulsion” from that album, which benefits from the much improved recording quality in the same way as the re-recorded title track which appeared on ‘Pierced From Within'. There's still a fair few blasting moments to be found, but they're used for effect, not as a focal point for entire songs. The balance here (I seem to be using that word a lot) is perfectly set between pounding midpaced crunch and the familiar speedy brutality.

Reunions are usually a lame excuse to cash in on past glories, but thankfully for those of us who've followed them since well before their initial split, Suffocation obviously aren't content to rest on their laurels. They've crafted a powerful, relevant album full of everything which made them great to begin with, combined with some new twists which add that extra dose of freshness to the equation. Those expecting a speedfest will be disappointed, but if you're looking for something which retains the maxim that heaviness results from midpaced bludgeoning, you'll find plenty to rave about here. Highly recommended, both for diehards and newcomers alike.

October 15th, 2006