Review contributed to Death Metal Underground by Edward Colt.
Suffocation overreaches on this one. Favoring the pubescent Call Of Duty crowd, they have fully bent over and accepted that their last handful of albums are: video game music. With new artwork that looks like something out of Mass Effect, all …Of the Dark Light invokes is some strange ground between nerd-rage and ravehead drug bingers. The cover artwork could be the poster of some corn field sponsored outdoor rave event in your nearest rural area away from seemingly never-ending suburban sprawl.
After completely bewildering fans with the absence of Frank Mullen in their North American tours in past few years, they have shown that it’s “out with the old, in with the new”. “New” being Rickey Myers sporting his sweat pants/cargo short garments and belting out vocals half as hard as Frank Mullen after a pre-workout sludge smoothie. The new songs all sound like warmed-over, later Deeds of Flesh tekdeaf numbers.
Not unlike other death Metal legends Immolation, who dress better but still pander to the lowest common denominator audiences, Suffocation has given up the ghost of recycling themselves. Cashing out and looking for new avenues of profit, Effigy of The Forgotten has never carried such meaning to a Suffocation fan. If you still want to support this band, perhaps you might want pick up one of Terrance Hobbs meme shirts at a bargain price instead of …Of the Dark Light or seeing Suffocation gimped on tour without actual front man Frank Mullen.
Suffocation prove once again on …Of the Dark Light that they should have stayed dead after breaking up following the final, excellent Despise the Sun extended play. Do not buy this upcoming sorry excuse to tour. Suffocation continue to prove that they are pandering to a lowest common denominator, mainstream Cannibal Corpse audience since their “comeback” into mediocrity. The brutal, slam boom ended so now the only reason to continue the band is to cash in on nostalgia; Suffocation has been creatively bankrupt for almost twenty years now.
Tags: ...of the dark light, cash grab, new track, nuclear blast records, review, shit, Speed Metal, suffocation, techdeaf
i had been listening to death metal for a few years before i got my hands on effigy of the forgotten. i have listened to that album and other classics pre-reformation almost daily for over ten years. to say i am diehard fan is an understatement.
saw them close to ten times live after they reformed. i do believe their self-titled release and bloodoath were mired by bad production. nowhere near the greatness of effigy and pierced, however, the bloodoath songs performed live with mike on the kit were absolutely devastating, successfully channeling effigy era energy at times.
the new direction suffo has embarked on is pathetic. techdeaf wank that goes nowhere. self masturbatory riffs with no substance or overall direction that, as you succinctly stated, appeal to the lowest common denominator of death metal listeners.
i feel like i’ve been stabbed in the back. worse than finding out the mother of your children was a used up cum dumpster who got ran train on by the college basketball team on spring break in cabo.
i had been listening to death metal for a few years before i got my hands on effigy of the forgotten. i have listened to that album and other classics pre-reformation almost daily for over ten years. to say i am diehard fan is an understatement.
saw them close to ten times live after they reformed. i do believe their self-titled release and bloodoath were mired by bad production. nowhere near the greatness of effigy and pierced, however, the bloodoath songs performed live with mike on the kit were absolutely devastating, successfully channeling effigy era energy at times.
the new direction suffo has embarked on is pathetic. techdeaf wank that goes nowhere. self masturbatory riffs with no substance or overall direction that, as you succinctly stated, appeal to the lowest common denominator of death metal listeners.
i feel like i’ve been stabbed in the back. worse than finding out the mother of your children was a used up cum dumpster who got ran train on by the college basketball team on spring break in cabo.
Pretty good review of their new cover art.
not so much a review of the music, but there’s not much to say about their new music anyway.
No Cerrito, no Suffocation
Holy shit those may be the worst sounding drums I’ve ever heard
Drums? Those are EZdrummer samples.
That shirt reminds me of the fear factory one from the obsolete album with the band as anime turds. They really shouldn’t tour without Frank.
Not exactly a disgrace, but it is Suffocation most inoffensive release.
Just listened to it- I wouldn’t say it’s as big an abortion as I expected given the leaked track. It’s definitely not pre-breakup Suffocation but it might have some of their best riffs since the reunion. The truly puzzling aspects are the arrangements. The second song is barely held together- it’s a complete nightmare. Some truly inexplicable arrangement choices are all over the record. The album starts promising but devolves into a shitty deathcore mosh that seems to never end. What makes it so depressing is that the good riffs, of which there are a surprising many, sound more akin to the styles they approached on Breeding the Spawn, which is a huge step in the right direction but now we get to hear them on the opposite end of the shitty production spectrum. Speaking of production, the drums are the absolute worst. The hi-hat is laughable. It would almost be better if the album didn’t have the amount of good riffs it does, because it’s just depressing how quickly they shit the bed as soon as the next part comes. There is no resolve to any of the songs, no dynamic catch and release, just a series of parts that are either good or bad, of which neither lends itself to achieving anything resembling a coherent song, which is decidedly anti-Suffocation. Guitars are in the same register as always, Frank is still Frank, and the elements are there, but no core for them to operate under.
There was a truly horrible moment or mini-era, maybe in like ’98, when metal bands seemed to think, “Man, with all this digital computer shit now, we can make really pro-looking artwork, it’ll look realistic & slick.”
Then everything looked like this album cover, and it ruined all the character, blood/guts/warts & all from the Old School. Back when niggas’ shit was handdrawn by an artist, or painted. This computer shit sapped even more of the soul and spirit from these already-wack bands’ aesthetic. I hate to say it, but niggas shouldn’t have thought they need to ‘progress’.
I agree completely. I hate the look of 99 percent of digital only created art
Nah. I’ve been a fan since 93, even saw em on the ‘Breeding The Spawn’ Tour. This Album slays!!