Suffokate is a lot more popular than you may think. And the
interesting thing about it is that this is the only really good album they’ve
put out. Apparently they released a new album this year that was generally received
as mediocre and average (but not bad). Coming from the most populated state in
America, Suffokate experienced their period of fame for about a year (which
makes this album a fluke). There are quite a few things I like about this
album, but it’s not one that I consider as being a deathcore landmark or being
super awesome like the new All Shall Perish release. The one thing that
everyone noticed first is the fact that the gauges in the vocalist’s ears are
big enough to fit a baby’s hand through as well as having numerous randomly
placed piercings on his lips and cheeks.
Here’s what I think is the most unique thing about this
album. The guitars and bass are tuned so low that when I tune my bass down to
play Constant Urge to Kill, my strings sag a tiny bit. I found out about this
album in an ad in an Alternative Press magazine, so after hearing this album, I
listened to their first one and it sucked. On top of the guitars being tuned so
low, the distortion has a really deep, meaty sound that has a little bit of a
crunch to it. Other than that, there isn’t really anything that impressive that
the guitarists do. There aren’t any guitar solos (unless there were some too
short for me to notice), and 96.84% of what they play is just really low bar
chords.
It’s pretty much the same story with the bassist. His
playing style fits the deathcore genre perfectly, so it’s not like he doesn’t
fit. It’s just that all he does is play the root note of all the chords the
guitarists are playing. One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that
there aren’t very many remarkable deathcore bassists. The only bands that I can
think of that have a truly outstanding bassist are All Shall Perish, Veil of
Maya, and Lamb of God. It’s actually kind of disappointing how a lot of
deathcore bands out there think that all they have to do is come up with some
catchy riffs and slap together a bunch of breakdowns. But it’s actually much
more difficult to make a truly impressive deathcore song (I know that because I
was the vocalist in a deathcore band for 2 years).
Their drummer is a former member of Legacy of Pain. He’s the
member that I think has the least amount of creativity. He has skill, but the
only skill he has is being able to keep a tight beat without screwing up. He
can’t even double-kick that fast. I saw a picture of him playing on stage and I
was infuriated on how crappy his drum set looked. Yes, I know that it’s hard to
replace cymbals and drums because of the high prices, but I mean there’s a
point to where something just isn’t playable anymore! The skin on his kickdrum
had been repaired so much that it looked like the drum skin was purely made out
of duct tape, half of the cymbals had huge cracks and probably sounded
horrible. I noticed though that in the studio pictures that the band took
during the recording of this album that he was playing a different drum set
that wasn’t his own. It’s just that I like to see musicians take care of their
instruments.
Their vocalist is actually really good. He has really deep
growls accompanies by high-quality vocal fry screams. That’s the thing that
turned me on to this band, the vocals. He actually sounds a lot like vocalist
for Blind Witness. So overall, this album isn’t that bad at all and will
generally be a pleasure for the ears with brutal breakdowns, deep guitars, lots
of bass, and amazing vocals. But for those of you that are more critical about
what you listen to, this album is pretty average, there isn’t too much that I don’t
like about it, it’s just that there aren’t very many things that I do like
about it. Their follow-up 2011 album is pretty bad, so that officially makes this album a fluke. I would give this album 15/20.
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