SUFFOCATION
Pinnacle Of Bedlam
Nuclear Blast (2013)
Rating: 8/10
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Pinnacle Of Bedlam may not be the best Suffocation album title or the best Suffocation album cover, but the New York band’s seventh opus is probably one of their best albums since the 90s. Here’s another of those bands who’ve survived many genre fads and never once deviated from their path of punishing death metal despite taking four years out after 2009’s Blood Oath.
This ten-tracker clocks in at just under 40 minutes and I guarantee that by the time you’ve finished you’ll be scrambling around the floor trying to pick up all the teeth that have been sonically extracted from your mouth.
This is Suffocation down to a tee. Not as brutal as the band’s early records, but they still offer a devastating barrage of technical brutality beginning with the four-minute juggernaut that is ‘Cycles Of Suffering’, with Frank Mullen’s distinctive growls and that hyper drum kick courtesy of the returning Dave Culross, who replaces founding member Mike Smith. This is classic Suffocation, although it’s a beast that is comfortable to slow its pace as well as rattle the bones at pace.
It’s the slower tracks I prefer this time round, particularly the mid-tempo trudge of ‘Purgatorial Punishment’ where the twin guitar attack of Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais really jar the soul. ‘Eminent Wrath’ kicks in with an ear-piercing solo and trigger drum but again finds itself with a deep groove that is flanked by two battering ram segments which enable Derek Boyer’s bass to rumble the soil.
Suffocation have always been a tight unit, but more so here as they craft highly complex structures without ever taking their finger off the pulse. The formidable ‘As Grace Descends’ never once lets up in its extremity, and for me this is Culross’ defining moment. His drum kicks like a mule as Mullen coughs out a slither of demonic phlegm and the leads soar above like some dreaded banshee scream.
Despite moving into the 21st century with ease, Suffocation in their structures and dynamics remain an old school death metal act, their only aim being to rip the throat from their victim, although the tranquil intro of ‘Sullen Days’ could lead one to think the band have mellowed… that’s until that monolithic riff strides into the room like a concrete elephant and Mullen spews forth another set of disharmonic growls.
The title cut and pounding ‘My Demise’ follow suit, each one an aural assault that batters and bamboozles with its distinctive twisted density, while ‘Rapture Of Revocation’ keeps the leviathan frothing, where again Culross crumbles bones with his frenetic blasts. ‘Rapture Of Revocation’ also features my favourite riff from the album, which cuts in just before halfway before leading us on another merry gallop of technical terror.
The album closes with the savagery of ‘Beginning Of Sorrow’ which is another short but sweet face ripper which conjures up images, for me anyway, of rotten corpses, sprinting from their graves and taking to the streets in their bloody hordes. The track also features some truly masterful bass playing and twisted riffs reminding me of the arrogance of early Morbid Angel.
Pinnacle Of Bedlam is, as expected, another brutal entry into Suffocation’s catalogue of destruction. Whether it stands the test of time like the band’s first three albums remains to be seen, but for the death metal fan seeking pace, fury and technical Armageddon, then album number seven is for you.
Neil Arnold
