1. Deceit

2. To Weep Once More

3. Souls To Deny

4. Surgery Of Impalement

5. Demise Of The Clone

6. Subconsciously Enslaved

7. Immortally Condemned

8. Tomes Of Acrimony

Frank Mullen (Vocals)

Guy Marchais (Guitar)
Terrance Hobbs (Guitar)

Derek Boyer (Bass)

Mike Smith (Drums)

SUFFOCATION: "Souls to Deny"        suffocation              

distributed in Switzerland by Irascible Distribution

release date Europe 17th May     

preview - review by Boris "Azrael" Witta ___               

“Souls To Deny” is the first album of Suffocation for as good as a decade. This is a very long time for a band, but I think, the American quintet didn’t lose too much fans. In case that happened, Suffocation will get their fans back easy, because “Souls To Deny” is a very good, a very strong piece of US Death Metal.  

Suffocation never had the status of bands such as Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel. But they play a style, which is not to far away from these bands, especially from Cannibal Corpse. Suffocation are very technical, I remarked this after a few seconds listening to “Souls To Deny”. There are hundreds of breaks and tempo-changings in the songs, and at the beginning, it’s not so easy to understand the music, but with every listening, everything gets clearer and the album grows.

Every song is very intensive, a little world for itself. Suffocation unite every mark of technical US Death Metal: First of all a brutal, deep, growling and kind of a hoarse voice, second, as I said before, tons of drum-breaks (the whole drumwork is impressive!), then complex, virtuous and excessive guitar-soli, just the bass is difficult to hear. 

The production is – of course – heavy and clear. “Souls To Deny” spreads brutality and violence, and I think riff-massacre is the right word to describe the music. I think the reason why Suffocation sound a bit like Cannibal Corpse is the they are also active since the beginning of the US Death Metal, they are one of the first bands from that scene. 

In the info from the label is written, that Suffocation are a legend. Well, I think they are pretty known, also in Europe, but I wouldn’t talk about a legend. Anyway, I think it’s not necessary to pick out some songs, because everyone is very confounded and needs to be discovered. At least, there isn’t a bad song at all. 

It’s an album which never gets blunt or boring, but sometimes, you must know how mathematic-banging works to follow the rhythm with your head. “Souls To Deny” needs to be listened in one draw, and my favourites are the opener “Deceit”, the titletrack “Souls To Deny”  and “Immortally Condemned”. At last I want to say that I think, if Suffocation can hold this level on the following album and if they play a good tour, they are able to became a really big band. But more important is: They are already a really good band.  

Rating: 8.5/10  

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