Suffocation "Souls to Deny" CD
[Relapse]
This is the first record from these death metal legends since 1998's "Despise the Sun" EP, and it's as solid as ever - loading up on ripping death metal in the classic sense with a great mix of tempos. Churning brutality, faster blasts, modern sounding dissonance, occasional flurries of solos, guttural vocals... it's all here in fine form. It kicks off with "Deceit", which has the most interesting and memorable chorus of the entire record, and never really lets up from there. "Surgery of Impalement" drops a handful of riffs that sound like they came off of Slayer's "Hell Awaits", "Demise of the Clone" is one of the more technical and creative tracks as far as chord phrasings and such, whereas "Subconsciously Enslaved" is a midpaced fucking monster that really brings out the best in this record - sick, basic rhythms with a little bit of dissonance and a hard hitting bass attack that pulls the basslines farther towards the core, etc. There are no bad songs here... sure, some are better than others, and I'm not totally floored or anything, but it's a solid fucking slab of death metal just the way it ought to be done. At first the recording, which is noticeably great from the get go, did bother me just a bit as the vocals have a slight sheen over them and the bass isn't immediately noticeable, but I got used to it soon afterwards. The leads peak out to distortion in many cases, which is a shame, but the guitar tone is fucking awesome, the drums sound shitloads better than most death metal records, the mix is clear, etc. If you listen closely the bass is really handled well, as it adds a ton of smooth density but does have its own noticeable texture in there. Very fucking nice... The layout fucking kills because it's classic death metal. The early-90's all over again. Sweet Dan Seagrave cover art, classic styled titles, totally by the book classic era death metal lyrics (in a good way), etc. Come on, you can't beat lines like this these days: "To dominate a field of iniquity undeserving of many. One must realize a painful demise deeds of tranquility. Inflicting misery, an instrument of morbidity thrust deep into you. Conflicted desires will transpire justify what's right..." I'm very pleased with this. I love "Effigy of the Forgotten" but sort of slowly lost interest in Suffocation after that, but this record is a suitable return to form that certainly feels like the band never went away. Good work. No way in hell will the band's longtime fans be let down by this. (7/10)
Running time - 38:16, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Deceit, Subconsciously Enslaved, Tomes of Acrimony]
Relapse Records - http://www.relapse.com

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