Suffocation are credited with inventing deathcore, one of the many sub-genres of metal.
It seems it took about 25 years for a death metal band to include a breakdown in a song, which hints that despite the technicality and experimentation of death metal, as a style it pretty much hit the skids in development terms at the same time as it started.
The long-awaited release from Suffocation, Pinnacle Of Bedlam, has all the trademarks of the genre.
There is no traditional melody, instead it’s a series of riffs, shreds and arpeggios from technically extravagant down-tuned guitar.
Lightning-fast clickety-click drumming with blast beats and twin bass drums, and of course growling vocals. This is about as heavy as metal gets.
What would surprise many is the serious social and environmental commentary of the lyrics.
Of course there’s no message of hope; “It’s all been predicted, we’ll die in vast numbers of a sickness that has no known cure.” sings Frank Mullen in the closing track “Beginning Of Sorrow”, a re-recording of the opening track of 1998’s Breeding The Spawn.
There are glimpses of lightness but these merely serve as a contrast to be overwhelmed and smashed to pieces by reality, the longest of these passages being the delicate 30 second intro to “Sullen Days”.
Other than this the songs start hard and fast, finish hard and fast, and fill the space between with much the same.
Sure to please death metal fans, Pinnacle Of Bedlam sounds exactly like what it is; a 25 year old band that is brilliant at what they do.
