Pierced from Within

When I was first getting into metal, specifically extreme metal. One of the very distinct memories I have was discovering Suffocation and seeing the album cover for this album for the very first time. The album cover and its title “Pierced from Within” mesmerized me with a sense of dread and amazement from the very beginning. Seeing the almost inhuman green being with what looks like spikes, hanging from these thron-like plants made me immediately listen to this album. And when this album first hit me it fucking HIT. I got hooked from the very beginning notes of the title track. And from that point onward, Suffocation became one of my favorite bands. And it only got better after that when I heard “Effigy of the Forgotten”. While this album doesn’t overthrow the debut album, it’s still a damn masterpiece.

The band definitely looked at their previous album “Breeding the Spawn” and immediately improved on every single aspect. The production is so fucking good it’s night and day when comparing it to Suffocation’s sophomore album. The guitars have that perfect punch and crisp tone that shreds right through your skull. The bass is extremely upfront and sharp in the mix, and it gets a lot of breathing room and time to shine.

When it comes to the drums, they’re also produced perfectly. They’re not drowned out like in the last album before this one, instead, they’re precise and machine-gun-sounding. Wasting no time in bashing your corpse into pure bloody mush. Making this one of my favorite-sounding albums that Scott Burns ever did. He hit gold with this album and made it sound menacing, nothing is drowned out and everything sounds nasty.

This album is fucking BRUTAL. Words cannot begin to describe how fucking meaty and technical this record is. There are so many grooves, breakdowns, and thrashing old-school death metal riffs. It’s constantly shifting and smashing you to bits with its tight guitar and bass work. They reached their technical heights on this album because there are a lot of intricate and complex sections and hooks. And be prepared for this album to be very hook-laden, these songs are extremely memorable and very well-written. One moment I can easily highlight is that utterly disgusting bass intro to “Depths of Depravity”. This is a very groovy and thrashy song as it is, but man it opens up perfectly and allows the bass to shine.

The lead work and solos are also really fucking killer. They sound extremely haunting and creepy, especially when they have slight variations and reverb to them. Terrance Hobbs and Doug Cerrito made something special here because they created extremely interesting and head-banging riffs/songs. The tempos also shift a bunch here, allowing for the grooves and hooks to really sink their disgusting teeth into your skin. There are also a lot more slower and atmospheric moments here, you even get some acoustic guitars on the song “Torn into Enthrallment”.

With this being their longest album clocking in at over 45 minutes they waste zero time kicking your ass repeatedly. This album grasps that technical brutal death metal style perfectly. Balancing each element out exceptionally well, and with the songs being longer allows for the songs to breathe and to go places.

This also leads to the songs being more groovy and creative, which is something I love about death metal. When it gets extremely groovy and head bangable. This album is something that many many bands would look at and take influence from. It’s not only a classic brutal death metal album, it’s also a classic tech death album. You wanna know where bands like Dying Fetus, Deeds of Flesh, and even Defeated Sanity got a lot of their influences from? Look at the first three Suffocation records and you’ll see what I mean.

Frank Mullen found a perfect balance with his vocals on this record. His vocals are a blend of deep gutturals and raspy growls, he also manages to find some really good flow within his vocals. His vocals are disgusting heavy across the board and don’t lose a single ounce of heaviness and rhythm.

Another great element of this album is the lyrics. This makes the album much more darker and evil in its overall atmosphere. Especially in my favorite song on this album “Thrones of Blood”. The way Frank growls about the thoughts of murdering to be set free from pain and free of thoughts is extremely disturbing. It goes into extreme and deranged detail about how the thought of killing entered the mind and how it progressively descended into mayhem.

And we haven’t even gotten into the sheer brutality and grooviness of this song. The song is mid-paced and starts off with extremely gut-punching hooks and groovy riffs. It builds up perfectly with its rhythmic sections and double bass before transitioning into thrashy death metal. And the solo that plays out near the end before kicking back into the main groovy hook is haunting. In conclusion, the song is ruthless, disturbing, corpse-soaked, and just plain heavy. When it comes to other favorites obviously the title track is a great one. But all of the songs whoop ass, even the re-recording of the title track off the last album “Breeding the Spawn” is incredible.

The drumming on this album is something that excels this album into machine gun territory. Doug Bohn’s drumming is ungodly tight and precise. He does slow down for even a moment, especially when looking at his blasting and double bass work. Which just mauls you to shreds for almost 50 minutes. But there’s also a lot of nice symbol work and frantic fills which balance out the brutal blast beats really well.

This is one of the best death metal albums of all time. While nothing beats “Effigy of the Forgotten” for me, this album is my second favorite Suffocation record and also a perfect album. This has everything I love about brutal death metal. The hooks, the grooves, the slammy breakdowns, and overall a very engaging listen. If for whatever reason you haven’t heard this album and you’re into metal change that immediately. This record is perfect and a classic for a reason. And it deserves all the praise it gets.

The last time we talked about Suffocation, we talked about their debut album "Effigy of the Forgotten" and its unique and well-done mix of brutal death metal and technical death metal. Beginning in "Breeding the Spawn", however, we start the see the band move on to a more technical style, which would later be fully fleshed out in their third 1995 album "Pierced from Within". While it might not be perfect when compared to the debut, I still find it to be really enjoyable overall.

Beginning with the instruments, the first track "Pierced from Within" already jumps the listener straight into the brutality. The guitars do still have that deep brutal sound from earlier records, but this time, they sound a bit more polished and cleaner. This mainly stems from the composition, as while it's still brutal, there is more technicality thrown into the structure, so the riffs feel more complex and hard. The drumming hasn't really changed much from the previous albums, as while the drumming feels a bit tamer, they still provide some fierce blastbeats that lead through the tracks well. The bass is also still good as ever, with its deep sound laying a good foundation within the track as well as following along the guitars well. The instrumentals on this track are mainly in the brutal death metal realms, but are also a lot more influenced in tech-death, especially around the two-minute mark where the guitars play a slower, doom-like riff and the drums beating slowly, but having a powerful booming sound. This first track does start the album off strong, but it still remains strong throughout the album. Other excellent highlights include "Thrones of Blood", "Depths of Depravity", "Torn into Enthrallment", and the re-recorded version of "Breeding the Spawn", which is better than the original in my opinion with its better production and stronger riffs. While the more technical approach is shocking to those used to the EOTF sound, it is still done really well nonetheless.

The vocals have also changed a lot. Frank Mullen does the vocals here once again, and they're noticeably different. While the vocals on previous records were more harsh, the vocals feel a bit more laxed here. A good example of this is in the track "Suspended in Tribulation". Frank's growling isn't as deep-pitched as before, and instead offers more screams and yelling within the growls. While it might be bothersome, these vocals actually flow really well to the technical riffs and only further enhance the crazed atmosphere within the track. They also amplify the slower moments even more, as his growls add in an agonizing aspect within the tone of the track. While I personally prefer Frank's older vocal style, I don't mind these vocals either.

Even the lyrics are great. Suffocation's societal themes do continue on here, and they're written just as well as the other lyrics from before. An excellent example would be in the track "Depths of Depravity", where this verse quotes:

Now that I control the rest of your existence
How does it feel to be in pain and misery?
For many years you made me feel that way
I praised you for so long
I'm now your god

The story here goes that the protagonist has been controlled by a group of people for years, and is now giving them karma by taking control of them. The story writing here is fantastic, as the wording does further enforce the torment the protagonist has went through, and this verse in particular makes his re-controlling all the more victorious. Furthermore, these lyrics are also fitting to the instruments and vocals, as the technical riffing adds in more complexity within the story, and Frank's crazed vocals also gives the protagonist a more crazed and psychotic personality when he tortures them. The songwriting on this album is still as strong as ever, which is only further strengthened with the great instruments and vocals.

I can't really call this perfect as EOTF, as I do prefer the latter's more brutal and disorganized style. However, as far as tech-death goes, this album is fantastic. The instrumentals are still great and pack a strong punch, Frank's vocals remain scary and intense, and the lyrics are still written well. If you're into a more technical version of brutal death metal, then I think you're gonna have a lot of fun with this album.

Suffocation are that band that are impossible to hate. They're not impossible to dislike if they simply don't fit a person's taste, but they do none of the trend bandwagon hopping, have never simplified their music or gone for that overproduced sound; a strong temptation for such a death metal titan to get more $$$; and have always stayed true to their endeavor as a brutal tech death metal band. And this here, is arguably them at their best. At least the best early discography Suffocation album. Sometimes just a particular time period works really well as a combination with a particular band. Like Suffocation and the mid-90's, as a combination, just seems to be a winning formula. Early 90's Suffo was all about making their presence felt emphatically, and establishing the foundation for their now trademark sound. That brutal/tech-death sound might be typical now after decades of hindsight, but at the time few death metal bands mixed brutal with technical quite like that.

So where their first records had that raw early 90's edge and were eager to exhibit an abundance of youthful exuberance, and their hardly contained energy, 'Pierced' tends to trim the sound and focus that energy in a more channeled and controlled way in each track. The songs are still overflowing with notes and riffs, but that's just part of the charm of the band. It's basically paradoxical to imagine Suffocation without the chaos, and it's in that chaos that lies their ability to produce unique music, and at times, their genius.

The album sounds completely dark. There are glimmers of light every once in a while with the occasional melody-tinted part, but the vast majority of the album is smothering and chaotic. The production itself was certainly inspired by the concept of smothering the listener. It's intentionally muffled and dark, while still emitting color and boosting dynamic frequencies. The guitars sound clinical and energetic, and the bass is distinctly audible and adds that extra grit in texture and helps the whole sound more technical and intricate. The soloing is consistently quite intriguing as it is a blend between a more formal neoclassical shape (embellished by the use of background reverb for depth) and completely insane US death metal chromatic shredding with uneven patterns and whammy madness.

The riffing, if one can look at this with an open mind, is at times reminiscent of jazz: that adventurous, mole-sniffing-around-furiously type of fret-board exploration, punctuated in the end by the full (dissonant) open chords, the bass presence, the irregular breakdown drumming. There's like a jazz backbone to the music with that freestyle approach to making complex material and favoring musicality over song-writing concision, although it fleshes itself out of course with heavy hi-gain guitars, a much more aggressive bass sound, frequent blast beats and bear-like guttural barks etc. But again, when compared with a pure death metal band like Morbid Angel, you can see how Suffocation are generally closer to jazz.

There aren't too many albums that have served historically as foundational works for an entire genre, and where the first Suffocation records had that seminal identity to them, 'Pierced From Within' showed the world how it's done with that much more clarity and definition. This is unquestionably technical, and it is unquestionably brutal. And you might just leave your seat with a little dent in your head, but that's just always part of the risk I mean what are you gonna do.

This is what technical death metal should sound like, essentially what's on here! All the songs rip and even though it's an earlier release for the band, they still show their talent on here as well as mature songwriting. I cannot stress enough how awesome this whole album is. The music and vocals are the highlights. They really shred both rhythm and lead guitars. Everything seemed to fall into place on here. They really show the genre that talent like this is written on the band. Such great work, I have literally no complaints. Every single track is worthy of praise and worship. I'm not exaggerating!

The album clocks in at 45 minutes and the whole time it's just blaring in your ears with just unrelenting hate! The vocals are somewhat gutteral and the tempos vary. Not everything is going in full force warp speed. But the riffs throughout the release are innovative and noteworthy. The lead trade-offs are pretty cool as well. These guitar players work well together! If there's a pinnacle album, this is it. Probably their best release ever! I would think that it's still readily available on CD but I'm sadly mistaken. I have to enjoy this on Spotify. The band split-up then reformed. But they're stil kicking ass.

I would venture to say that this is one of the greatest technical death metal releases I've ever heard. I thought Archspire's latest was good but I got a load of this after years of not hearing it! It really is one to get addicted to. Nothing on here needs to be changed. Everything flows like an everflowing stream! Not to sound cliche, but really, there's no complaints here. It's all in precision. I really like everything about this album. The brutality factor the most. The production as well. For an earlier album, the mixing is superb. But the music is what grapples the listener from every aspect.

I would say support the band and buy the CD but it's $69 on Amazon. If you don't have the CD, just download it on Spotify. If you don't agree with my assessment, so be it. But I think I'm right in praising the band for their amazing work on here. Every track is awesome. And this release is lengthy for a technical death metal release. But it's worth every minute to listen to. It really shows the death metal community that it's possible to achieve success if the effort is put forth hard enough. Suffocation does it with this one. From every aspect, the band just tops them all!

Pierced from Within marks a lot of changes in the band, from lineup to a slight tweak in the musical direction and production. Mike Smith has left the band (for whatever reason) and in his seat sits another psychotic drummer, Doug Bohn, who’s done an amazing job behind the drum kit. The lyrics have taken another brutal direction, describing more about oneself and their perspectives of the world, as well as the nature of using one’s flesh for joy. The music itself, or the brutality rather, got perfected past the point of no return. While Effigy of the Forgotten shaped brutal death metal, with technical elements, Pierced from Within pierced into another degree of brutal death metal, altering and perfecting what was. To simply put, if anyone’s looking to listen to one of the best brutal death metal records ever, it’s this bastard! The sound is so much better, comprehensible, matured, as the production assisted in making an enjoyable listen thoroughly, with now producing their longest record to date, having longer songs than before to express the music further.

The record starts with the title track, already glimpsing its sheer brutality. Crushing riffs and explosive guitar solos, technical bass, and perfected drum sequences, along with Frank’s death growls - reached a whole other level of philosophical songwriting (and that’s not discrediting the other band members’ work on the songwriting). Thrones of Blood unravels metaphorical methods of experimenting with flesh, blood, and gore. The incredible Depths of Depravity that offers rather melodic guitar riffs, longer-melodic guitar solo, along with an intense breakdown. Then pretty much the rest of the record’s choruses sound the same structure wise. Suspend in Tribulation, the longest song on the record, offers the most range of brutality and some melodies, along with a fine ending of hammer-ons from the guitars. Torn into Enthrallment‘s intro is probably the only part Suffocation has ever used the chorus pedal for an atmospheric opening, so that was a nice touch (which I wish it applied throughout the song).

Despite the massive recognition and the amazing brutality this record produced over the years, I didn’t find it to be as impactful as the last two records. While Effigy of the Forgotten introduced technicality and brutality and Breeding the Spawn introduced a more focused technicality (despite the raw production, financial or other issues that occurred during its recordings), most of the songs on Pierced from Within aren’t that good beside the first four. The re-recorded songs, especially Synthically Revived sound badass. The bass alone is just euphoric to bear. However, as we getting near the end, it feels like the band squeezed all the juice from the first half. Torn into Enthrallment was pretty simple; like the entire song sounded simple, but exhausting to interest, and the last two original songs’ verses awfully sound like the entire title track, but at least they have beautiful melodic guitar solos to commend.

It’s definitely a phenomenal and pioneering record in the genre of death metal. It has all the tools it needs to make such an outstanding, brutal record. While a change is most important for a band to develop, mature, and become creative, Pierced from Within wasn’t doing all that on the level of the first two records. Groundbreaking, rich with potential and quite fairly holds on its own, yet still desires to be dependent on the earlier stuff. The best songs are the first three because they showcase the brutality, while the rest contemplate as extras.

There are 6 things Suffocation provides in bucket loads on this album; a guitar tone consisting of nothing but bass and distortion, groovy breakdown sections, odd vocal phrasings and patterns, chug riffs, quick and constant changes and frequent blast beats. Oh there's a 7th thing I forgot, they can deliver the other 6 for about 40 minutes and keep it at a fairly consistent level of quality.

There's a certain abstract styling to early tech death and Suffocation may have topped the pile with Pierced From Within, the song structures straying away from conventional norms. A slow chugging section is as likely to be followed up by a different slow chugging section as it is a high speed shred fest, which will itself be followed by another tempo break and probably land back at slow chugging riff. There's not completely a rhyme or reason to anything the band plays but it all flows aimlessly. It creates an odd almost paradoxical balance, crude bare bones riffs and beats laid out in a very structured and intricate manner that also provides points for the band to add shredding leads and solos to prove their talented musicianship.

That isn't to say there aren't some weak points. The solos aren't anything to write home about, not bad by any means, just kinda there to add some additional technical pinch. The real offender is a rather, ballsless production job that manages to well emphasize the bass and low end of the guitar in the mix but still manage to deliver both with far less punch than they need, probably why this album never seemed to take off with the deathcore crowd who would normally love its focus on groovy chug riffs and breakdowns.

The fact that Suffocation made this album proves that they have zero interest in actually creating music that's as good as people consider it to be. Ah yes, now that my bias has been revealed, I'll say that Pierced from Within is the only Suffocation release deserving of its praise, and actually I feel this doesn't get enough attention for the quality of its material, and has to deal with generally being named after its 2 predecessors. This is retarded at best, Pierced from Within is miles ahead of anything else this band has made. One of the main reasons this doesn't suck nearly as much as its peers is because it actually has a production job that doesn't hold the album back and it's the only one in this regard. This is very different in style compared to other Suffocation releases, and seems to be much more focused on groove and complexity rather than going flat-out fast on us with riffs aplenty, for better or worse. It's not really complex in the musical sense like a lot of technical or progressive death metal nowadays, but this album progresses in a really awkward way most of the time, barely staying true to most of the genre's conventions as far as songwriting is concerned. It's highly unique and unusual, and the only Suffocation album that's not completely overrated.

It's not that this album chugs like Meshuggah or changes tempos constantly like Malignancy, but the general flow of songs can be compared to later Defeated Sanity. Pierced from Within is really busy constantly trying to cram a lot of fills in places where you don't expect them to be. I don't know if it was the band's intention for it to sound that way, but judging from the organic yet very unusual flow I think it's very likely that this was the band's vision with no real goals set beforehand. It doesn't sound deliberately technical or complex for complexity's sake, which is actually pretty apparent given how good the songwriting is, something you can't say for a lot of bands playing a similar kind of death metal. The production job, while still not quite perfect, is no longer a drawback to the album's overall quality. The bass drums might be a bit too deep and dry for their own good, but they're a welcome departure from the otherwise paper-thin drums we had to deal with on previous efforts. Also, the musicianship on display here might well be the best we'll ever get to hear from Suffocation, with basically every member playing at the top of his capabilities.

One of the first things one might notice is how obscenely bassy this album is. It helps that the bass guitar itself is loud as balls, otherwise you wouldn't have heard it and you wouldn't have missed it either. The guitars are more of a fuzz rather than an actual guitar playing riffs, but the weird things is, there's more than enough treble. You can easily hear the guitars shift pace, pitch or from riff to riff. The tone itself takes some getting used to as there aren't a whole lot of bands trying something similar, but you'll hardly desire something else once you fully witness the greatness it resulted in. Pierced from Within however, not only serves as the best Suffocation album, but simultaneously manages to be one of the best BDM albums ever made, succesfully combining complexity and brutality and not sounding pretentious and creatively misguided at the same time.

This album is so utterly satisfying from beginning to end, there's honestly not a second that bores me. There are some moments that I like less than others, but this album is incredibly consistent and serves as the true example on how to make proper techy brutal death metal. In contrary to the previous album, Mullen is very good again. I think his mic-cupping style would've been a teeny tiny bit better-fitting to the weirdness here, but the brutish growling we get here instead does its job more than right. He's a little more understandable as well, you can actually hear what he's saying from to time now, which is actually pretty cool as the lyrics are pretty good. You see, everything just falls into place. Everything the band does here is just great, be it the grindy riffs left over from the debut, the newly-introduced abundance of grooves mixed into the formula, or the weird progression of the songs on display, it's all a joy to listen to. So here you have it, the only Suffocation album that doesn't come off as disappointing or not deserving of its praise, this deserves every kind of praise it gets for the quality of its material. This is Pierced from Within, one of the most complex albums ever, and one of the best as well.

Suffocation are a band that provoke almost unanimous positive reactions upon the mere mention of their name to any fan of extreme metal. Their first three albums are consistently handed out great reviews and high scores, with their debut having almost single-handedly defined brutal death metal whilst their second album introduced a melodic flair that many doubted the band could pull off. Some people consider them to have reached their pinnacle on their debut, whilst others claim it to be Pierced From Within, the third studio outing for this legendary New York-based death metal act. This was an album that maintained the brutal edge of their earliest works but contained much more visceral guitar tones and arguably better song craft than ever before. Brace yourselves, this album will be a ride through the darkest chasms of life.

On each of the brutal and blasphemous routs that the band put out on their third album, many things will happen. The first and foremost is that you will be hit like a sledgehammer by a mindless onslaught of some of the heaviest riffs out there. These riffs are many in number and incredible in quality, as is evidenced by the thrash-influenced sections of the second track. The second thing that will happen is that you may snap your neck headbanging to the ridiculously quick drumming and mind-boggling slower "slams". The title track and Depths Of Depravity would be the finest example of this, with the winding song structure of the former showcasing numerous speeds of drumming to great effect. The final thing that will happen is a feeling of nostalgia for their previous album with a great re-recording of the title track to Breeding the Spawn which massively improves both the vocals and the production.

Each of these juggernaut compositions will crush your skull with pure heaviness, mainly achieved through the unparalleled riff craft and aggressive focus on the guitars and drums in the production job. Torn Into Enthrallment showcases some quick, technical riffing after a calm section that opens it up in phenomenal style. Consider this clean bit as merely a breather however as it is the only one you will be gifted. Every instrument has far crisper tones than what was seen on the past two releases, and the quality of the riffs seeps through like blood from a stab wound here. Meanwhile, the animalistic vocals from Frank Mullen are at their best here, being far more decipherable than ever before and retaining that raw, low edge that they had on the past works.

As you spiral into the insanity that is Pierced From Within you will notice that they have exponentially grown as musicians in the few short years between this and their debut release, and for that reason their third studio album trumps even the mighty Effigy Of The Forgotten as the jewel in their discography.

Pierced from Within remains to this day to be a masterpiece of the death metal genre. While the years have not been kind to many of the classics, largely due to an increase in the quality of production abilties, this album remains a masterpiece, and will always be a masterpiece. Why, do you ask?

The production of this album is completely ahead of its time, especially on the drums and bass. Unlike in many death metal albums, you can actually clearly hear the bass! Given death metal in general has its lows completely intensified for increased brutality, being able to clearly hear the bass adds so much to this album. And when you first listen to the track "Depths of Depravity" and its wicked bass solo, you will further realize how much albums with an inaudiable bass suffer. The drum tracking is similarily excellent. What makes the drums sound so unique is that they lack that artificial feel present on so many modern albums. Although you may be a fan of overproduced drums, hearing them in their organic brutality is, for me, much more enjoyable. The drumming is both organic and technical, which may surprise you given Mike Smith does not appear on this album and is typically considered one of the most important factors in Suffocation's success.

The guitar tracking is a major improvement from their previously releases, especially given the poor guitar tracking is basically the only problem with the album Effigy of the Forgotten. In terms of vocals, while still solid, they are a step back from Effigy. Frank stated that he began opening his mouth more while growling on this album to make the lyrics more coherent. As someone who does not care at all for the lyrics and graphic imagry present on albums of this style, I would much have preferred Frank kept his mouth shut and continued with the relentless and guttural style vocals present on Effigy. Regardless, the vocals do not in any way hold the album back, and in many ways, Frank is one of the best in the business at materializing the powerful and hypermasculine vocalist we fans of death metal enjoy.

The first 4 tracks of the album are among the strongest, and although though the tracks that follow are less excellent, they will still get your head moving.

Now, lets talk about what makes this album stand out. The riffs. To describe this album in a sentence would be: an amazingly heavy riff is played by itself, the listener thinks to themself "wow that riff is brutal", the drums and bass come in to complement the riff, Frank says evil things over the riff, than everything goes quiet and another brutal riff is introducted. While many death metal albums utilize repetition to some extent, this album is simply covered in brilliant riffs. Just when you think a song has hit its greatest moment, you are likely wrong, given the next riff will rip the skull off your already skinless face.

One could argue that this album suffers from one problem: it seems to be a transitional album from when Suffocation moved from being simply brutal like on Effigy to being a much more technical death metal band. While some see this as a weakness, I see this as one of the albums greatest strengths. The album maintains the brutality in the breakdowns and grunts, while at the same time has enough technicality to keep those fans of Necrophagist fully engaged.

In conclusion, there are few death metal albums around that keep you engaged as much as this one. The production is organic and ahead of its time, and upon each listen, you hear another memorable riff that you simply won't be able to get out of your head.

Pierced From Within is by far the best offering from Suffocation. The album features bottom-heavy guitars, absolutely perfect drums, wicked vocals, and my personal favorite: an audible bass. It's like someone forgot that death metal isn't supposed to have an audible and active bass.

The bass is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the album, so let's talk about that first. Thrones of Blood and Depths of Depravity both open with a rhythm section assault that, contrary to the normal death metal fare of an enormous blast beat, instead features what can only be called a short duel between the bass and drums. It is catchy as hell, and you wish it had gone on longer. Depths of Depravity also gives us an amazing instance of bass usage towards the end of the song, where the slow, plodding, utterly demented bass is accented by a drum pattern that changes tempo like a schizo changes moods.

Everyone knows the infamous Florida scene's bass drum sound. Clicky clicky clicky -- sounds like a sea of typewriters, right? I'm sure you were wondering where the 'bass' part of the bass drums were. Well, here it is. Suffocation's drumming was a whirling black hole vortex of doom that sucked in every bit of bass from those bass drums. Yeah, the bass drums here are deep, powerful, and truly destructive. No lame clicky blast beats here. You play this stuff out of a subwoofer, and you'll be getting a hell of a massage. Oh yeah, and the guy plays insanely well too. Some of the best drumming I've ever seen, because he knows not only how to play fast, but how to play slow. It keeps the album from getting dull. His fills are truly inspiring too.

The guitars, like I said, are bottom heavy. The riffs are perhaps a little dull at times, relying overmuch on the guitar tone (which is spectacular and heavily distorted). However, though the riffs aren't quite as great as they can be, the point of music is to SOUND good, and the guitars certainly do SOUND good, so I can't really complain too much. The solos, on the other hand, are a class of their own. Some of the best solos in death metal can be found here. In fact, my favorite solo in death metal (perhaps excepting Trey's solo in Summoning Redemption) comes into play in Thrones of Blood, playing over one of my favorite drum patterns in death metal. It is epic, thunderous, and legendary.

The vocals are interesting. They are deep, powerful, intelligible (considering how low they are, and considering they're death metal vocals), but they are a little bit monotonous. However, the fellow has certainly improved his vocal delivery since the debut and sophomore offerings. I can't really talk too much about them since they don't really vary that much. However, his performance on Thrones of Blood is certainly exemplary, and I think his bottom heavy tone fits the overall bottom heavy tone of the album. Like I said, they seem to have sucked the bass out of every other death metal album to come up with this kind of subwoofer-raping sound.

The songwriting also seems to display a pattern. By far the best songs are the first four. If they had kept the quality of songwriting throughout the album, it would be by far the best death metal album in existence (and it's already one of the best). The problem with the album is that it drops in quality through the course of the album. The first four are again quite amazing songs. Then the next three, while decent offerings of their own, aren't quite up to the same quality of the first four. Then the last two are, in my opinion, completely unworthy of being on this album.

The production is very bottom-heavy (did I mention it's pretty bassy?) They must have wanted this to sound good on a stereo system with subs. Sibilants in the vocals sometime get muddied, but the solos remain pretty clear. Channel separation is used, especially in songs like Torn Into Enthrallment, which lets the vocalist sound as if he's moving all throughout the room. Drums are perhaps the best produced drums I've ever heard (and this being in '95!) As I mentioned earlier, the bass is audible. It thumps. It sometimes sounds like a rubber band. It bangs, it hammers, and it's THERE. I apologize, it's just so unusual for a bass to be THIS audible, and the quality of the album really reflects the addition of the bass. I can't even imagine a Pierced From Within without the bass. It'd be much duller. The guitars are great, and the bottom-heavy tone works with the album incredibly well. The solo tone is perfect. All in all, it's an incredible improvement over the oft-panned production of the sophomore release.

My overall impression of this album is that THIS is how death metal should've gone. Tempo changes are an important aspect of death metal, and it's hard to do tempo changes when you go from lightning fast tempo to greased lightning fast tempo. This album goes from slow, plodding, almost doomy/drony (Depths of Depravity), to very fast and full of blast beats. It is a very technical work. I have more respect for the technical prowess of Suffocation than the technical prowess of Origin, despite loving both bands. It's just that Suffocation knows how to make even slow passages feel very technical and well-written, while Origin hasn't slowed down from superluminal velocities since they were in their momma's belly. It is an amazing offering from Suffocation, and I hope they are able to repeat the 'feel' of this album in their next offering.

Suffocation is one of those bands that can virtually do no wrong. Sure, nothing can or ever will top the raw ferocity of Effigy of the Forgotten, but everything Suffocation releases has either been fantastic or some chromatic shade of furious brutal death metal.


As with the glorious Effigy and the neglected Breeding the Spawn before this, Pierced From Within is a sharp and fizzy album littered with monstrous riffery and what is virtually Suffocation's anthem in the title track. Seriously, how can you not nearly break your neck at the breakdown? Then those solos? Terrance Hobbs is seriously a maniacal genius when it comes to the guitar; always combining the standard trem bar wank of death metal with obtuse and terrifying scalar runs and vibrato from hell. The man can do no wrong, seemingly.


Not to discount Doug Cerrito's formidable chops: his solo work and menacing riff contributions equalize Terrance Hobbs's overall chaotic mastermind.


Another thing I should bring up before I desecrate this most sacred of albums, people like to discredit Doug Bohn. Yeah we get it he's not Mike Smith and as such people get sort of butthurt over nothing, when he gives an extremely proficient and intense performance. Definitely one of the highlights of the album.


Most people remember this album simply off of the title track, and to be honest it's clearly the best song on the album, but there more than a couple killers on this album. Sadly the track following the title, "Thrones of Blood", is fairly mediocre though when the rumbling bass and eventual monster of the classic Suffocation sound in "Depths of Depravity" rams into you headlong, you'll be taken over in no time.


Speaking of the title track, Frank Mullen's vocals are definitely worse on this album than on the previous two. It seems he experimented with higher vocals, when his brutal gutturals on Effigy and Breeding were both excellent and fit extremely well with the sound of the band.


Now, if you take a gander at my review of Effigy of the Forgotten you will know that that is simply my favorite death metal album of all time, and that the combination of grindcore pacing, furious riffing, and the periphery of hate and evil atmosphere that the production allows all equate to it being pretty much nearly perfect.


What makes Pierced From Within not the best is that each song lacks its own atmosphere, groove, motif, or whatever that every single song on the debut held. Generally what you're getting is a dense album with some songs running around the same territories as others (such as Suspened In Tribulation having very similar riffs to tracks 2, 3, and 4).


The sudden burst of technical prowess is also hindering, since the band hadn't yet quite found its niche with the combination of Effigy-style brutality and this album's overall insanity, and as such kind of plays itself as a one-trick pony, and while Effigy was in the same situation, this album's one trick is far less impressive and awe-inspiring.


However, that being said, the album still has absolute MONSTER riffs. Seriously, how can you say "no" to the beginning of "Synthetically Revived" and the pure mayhem in the first few riffs of "Brood of Hatred"?


I've already mentioned the genre-defining epic that is the title track. Fantastic riff after thrashing riff after chaos and doom...so perfect. And, the brooding intro to "Torn Into Enthrallment" almost makes up for the general awfulness of the song. Don't get me wrong, when Suffo does doomy, it rules, but this just seems like a haphazard of riffs.


Such classic songs deserve respect, though with bombs like tracks 4-6 it's hard to justify this as the best Suffocation album. Do not forget that this is a strange album in that it bookends with its amazing material, and leaves the shitfests for the middle. Some call that a bonus, but hell, I don't.


Overall, this album is way too imperfectly balanced to constitute an amazing album. It opens with the best track, then follows with another great song in Track 3, until it drops considerably with the mid-album material, then returns somewhat to hold your sway only until the end.


Pros:

- Title Track. Seriously. Fantastic song
- The guitar tone is considerably better than on Effigy
- The solo work is phenomenal
- Drumming
- Intro to "Torn Into Enthrallment"


Cons:

- Frank's vocals were weaker on this album than on previous and forthcoming albums.
- Very awkward song order choice, resulting in you listening to Track 1, then stopping.
- Couldn't dedicate to their previous utter brutality or newfound technicality, and the songwriting suffers for it.

By the time 1995 had rolled around, the borders between the various manifestations of that decrepit yet lovable marriage of horror and sonic punishment known as death metal had pretty well taken shape. A few years prior one might refer to Cannibal Corpse’s “Butchered At Birth” as the end all, be all of brutality; but within the New York scene and its even viler bastard Canadian son Cryptopsy, a different flock were pushing the envelope. Suffocation’s 3rd offering “Pierced From Within” might seem a tame beast compared to what was offered up by said Canadian outfit just a year later, as it tends to be a bit more conservative in its approach to song creation, but compared to most prior to ‘95, outside of the band’s own previous offerings, it was definitely a beast to be reckoned with.

In terms of sound character, this listens like a steroid injected, more technical answer to Deicide. Several references are made back to the dissonant, chromatic sound of Slayer‘s “Reign In Blood”, which is naturally to be expected at this point in death metal’s history. But the guitar work isn’t content to sit on 4 or 5 riffs, nor does it frontload all of the interesting changes at the intro section of a given song, but wanders around in a typical fashion to the technical pursuits of later 80s thrash albums. There is cohesion, but it’s varied enough to throw the listener for a loop in manner comparable to a suspended rollercoaster. The term technical may seem a bit misleading if one is going by the model as applied to the likes of Cryptopsy, as this does not really dabble in the overt jazz influences, super dissonant chord combinations and genre bending tricks of said band, but it does take a few steps out of the death/thrash box.

Of course, the technical side of this album is only half the story, the other half being the pissed off, fist pounding aggression displayed in the overall sound. The vocal delivery is equally as guttural as Chris Barnes, but has about twice as much punch to it and draws a picture of a justifiably pissed off soldier reveling in the carnage of his enemies rather than the mindless ramblings of a homicidal lunatic. But Mullen’s demonic barks are not the only display in this display of rational berserker mayhem, as the guitar tone on here is dense enough to stop an 18 wheeler dead in its tracks. It has the sheer crispness and clarity in the attack of early Cannibal Corpse, but also the thickness that those albums lacked. One could almost assert that this album is the album that “Tomb Of The Mutilated” could have been had Barnes and company elected to take a few more risks within their creative paradigm.

There aren’t really any out and out losers to speak of on here, though perhaps a single flaw in a few of these songs could be seen in that they throw one too many ideas into the mix occasionally. What this results in is something that is worthy of the same band that gave us the amazing “Effigy Of The Forgotten”, but isn’t quite at the same level. Nonetheless, longer winded, lyrically intellectual songs such as “Thrones Of Blood”, “Suspended In Tribulation” and “Breeding The Spawn” are packed to capacity with neck wrecking riffs, spastically riveting lead breaks, fancy yet precise drumming, and a few rather impressive bass sections that manage to avoid the quirky, out of place slap bass work inspired by “None So Vile”. Like most death metal albums, let alone technically oriented ones, you won’t be humming any of the tunes found on here, but instant familiarity and distinctiveness is clearly displayed throughout this album’s duration.

Pretty much any self-respecting fan of death metal, particularly the older guard, should have all 3 of Suffocation’s full length’s before their split and reformation. Of the bunch, “Pierced From Within” is the weakest, though only in the sense that it only builds a tiny bit on already established practices and doesn’t quite reach the same level of intensity. It could maybe function as a gateway to older conventions to newer tech. heads who are obsessed with the likes of Decrepit Birth, though it bears almost no resemblance to the progressive conventions that said band inherited from Cynic. But for the most part, this is pure brutality that differs from the rest only in that it is done with intelligence.

So, here we have Suffocation's 1995 release, "Pierced from Within." Fourteen years ago, metal wasn't the same as today. Not every band strove to be the most brutal, the most technical or the heaviest. You see nowadays bands like Waking the Cadaver, who pride themselves on being "brutal," or bands in the vein of Necrophagist and Braindrill, who, despite being rather good bands, are insanely shallow with their jaw-dropping yet annoying technicality. Back in 1991, with the release of "Effigy of the Forgotten," Suffocation was simultaneously one of the most brutal and technical bands at the time, something unseen as of then, and it was original, a term that can hardly be used anymore.

Even in 1995, 4 years after the release of their debut album, Suffocation were still the kings of brutal and technical death metal, and it hadn't gotten old yet. Therefore, this album was one of the best death metal records to date, and still is. "Effigy of the Forgotten" may have been more groundbreaking than "Pierced from Within," but the latter surpasses the former because of multiple elements: better production, better songwriting, and a better performance.

Rather than break every song down, it is easier to sum up the album this way: sick drumming, sick riffing, sick vocals. Doug Bohn, the replacement for the ledendary Mike Smith, fills the void left by the innovating Smith perfectly. After listening to "Effigy of the Forgotten" and hearing Mike Smith's style, I thought it was still Smith on this album, but no. Doug Bohn was the ideal replacement, making time signatures, tempo changes and blasting his bitches.

Terrance Hobbs and Doug Cerrito are perhaps the greatest guitar duo ever in death metal. The sheer amount of different riffs found on this album are enough to make even an experienced metal-listener's head spin. But then take into account that all the riffs are solid, with more than enough of them brilliant, throw in some skillful solos, and you have one of the best guitar albums ever made in the genre of metal.

And of course, how could I write a Suffocation review without basically sucking Frank Mullen off? Frank truly is the penultimate death metal vocalist. Sure. there may be other vocalists with more talent (though you'll really have to search; Frank has some demonic pipes.) but Frank's style fits the music perfectly. He doesn't exceed the tone of his trademark guttural growl very often, though he mixes it up much more than on "Effigy of the Forgotten." There aren't any screams to be found exiting the throat of Frank, just a lot of devastatingly powerful growls and all out roars.

The production blows that what you may have heard on "Effigy of the Forgotten" and "Breeding the Spawn," the two prior albums to this one. This album was the first well produced Suffocation album. It still retains the downtuned, bottom-heavy, percussive tone found on other Suffocation albums, but every instrument can be easily heard . . . even the bass. Yes, the bass. What the hell? Hearing the bass in music like this? You'd be surprised. And it helps that Chris Richards was a rather good bassist. Not comparable to, say, Jeff Hughell (Braindrill) or Alex Webster (need I even say what band?) but serviceable nonetheless.

The one bad thing about this album is that it really drags towards the end. The first four songs are awesome; the proceeding five are standard brutal death metal. But Suffocation is just too much of a classic death metal band to give this album anything less than what I've given it. I say this is Suffocation at their near best because of the rather boring ending to the album. If you want prime Suffocation, I recommend checking out their "Despise the Sun" EP, because it's minute-for-minute better than anything else they've done. However, this album remains a classic and a must-listen.

This album was actually the first metal record that I had ever purchased. It was back somewhere in the summer of 2001, with me meandering through the isles in a record store in Toronto (can't remember the name of the shop). I don't know what caused me to purchase the album, since I had never heard of Suffocation up until then. All the metal that I had come across at that point was Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. Eitherway, the cover art drew me in, and boy was I in for a surprise!

When I finally got the album home, I unpackaged it, stared at the cover for several moments, then finally placed it in my walkman. The sound was booming! I couldn't make out the drums properly at first, because everything sounded entirely percussive. The vocals were akin to a bear hugging the life out of you! After the first two songs, I had to take off my headphones. It was simply too much for me at first.

Repeated listens proved to be rewarding. The compositions became far more clear, the drums finally became lucid in the mix, and the booming sound felt almost as comfortable as my own heartbeat. I knew that I had found something special and musically challenging. I never truly went back to Iron Maiden, Ozzy or any other traditional heavy metal bands after that.

Upon opening the booklet, I came across lyrics that actually impressed me. They felt very realistic, and not inane like some other bands who felt that the use of pseudo-esoteric lyrics truly meant something.

And as for the overall music, it was (and is) definately on a whole other level, where not many other recordings that I've heard since can reach. Highly dynamic, percussive, and lurching forth like a wild bear about to tear a deer to piecemeal.

I can't recommend this album enough!

Riffs. This album is full of them. Drumming. Technical and highly fill laden. Vocals. Deep, unique, and somewhat understandable. Bass. Stands out very well. Did I also mention this album has RIFFS?

This album is basically like a maze, there are so many paths, you can easily get lost, or in this case, so many riffs, you can forget which riff goes where. When I first listened to this, I had the hardest time getting into this album. It was definitely one of the tougher albums (Bands also, in general) to finally "get" because of their generally awkward, abstract style. After listening to this many times, I think the band "clicked" and so did this album. A very rewarding experience.

Anyways, onto the review of the album. Every instrument and aspect of this album can be heard. This album is generally clustered with so many different riffs it can be very hard to follow at first, but if you listen to it enough times you will notice that all the songs stand out. The guitar work and drumming are very technical, it's hard to appreciate at first. Throw in some "melody" (Don't panic if any of you hate it, there's very little melody here). The drumming is outstanding, and you can't notice Mike Smith was actually substituted as well. Every musician shines here, and this makes this their "Best work yet".

The producer on this album is another Scott Burns production, although I generally hate some of his production jobs (Death's Human for example, the bass is way too low in the mix) but here, he makes every instrument heard clearly. There is almost an atmosphere of depravity, and gloom here, this contributes to the abstract feel of this album as well.

In conclusion, this is a definite must for every Brutal/Tech Death fan as well (Not essential, but if you want to get into it, mind as well try this album on).

It took me a couple years with this album, but I finally 'got' Suffocation, which I guess I'm thankful for, at least since I now get to know what the big deal is. Being raised on Cryptopsy and other speedy brutal death metal bands, I always sort of failed to recognize exactly why Suffocation was so widely revered and appreciated. And though I'm still not particularly amazed by them, I do appreciate what they've done and where they're coming from with albums like this.

The thing about Suffocation is that, apart from simple stuff like 'Thrones Of Blood', they're a pretty abstract brutal death metal band, perhaps one of the most abstract in the style. The riffs are generally strange and awkward, and along with the lopsided, hammering drum performance, there's very little in the way of organic flow. Even the vocals have erratic patterns. So coming from a fast brutal death and slam sound primarily, I had trouble getting into this; it was more like Gorguts circa 'From Wisdom To Hate' than Devourment. After a while though, you get into the strange, otherworldly feel of the music. Most Suffocation fans are pretty dumb, so I'm not sure how they handle music like this unless they just zone out until a breakdown kicks in.

It's not really 'fun' music, and it's probably the most alien sort of thing in the brutal death field apart from bands who took the general idea of claustrophobic, atonal riffs and fill-laden drumming and turned them into a lifestyle like early Fleshgrind or Deaden. Groove and 'normal' death metal moments are few and far between, with the band acting in favor of excessive yet restrained technicality and almost mind-bendingly flat production, like the band is daring you to try and understand what's going on. The guitar tone is nothing but bass and distortion and the playing alternates between winding tremolo riffs and slow, convoluted chug sections while the rest of the band... pretty much does the same thing on their respective instruments.

I don't really like this album very much but I can certainly appreciate the amount of time and effort that has to go into composing such abstract and unusual music. Suffocation clones never end up sounding like Suffocation typically because what's here is so hard to replicate: a band deliberately attempting to not be understood by the average member of the audience. After they reformed Suffocation pretty much ended up doing mass-appeal brutal death metal with only a thin sheen of their previous sound, but this is pretty cool even if I pretty much never want to put it on.

This is where it all began. If you want to find where lots of bands took inspirations for their brutal works, you must listen to this band and especially to this album. Human Waste was a bit grind yet but already showed us a band technically compact and violent, while the debut is something bestial for the gore level and the production. Anyway, from that album the skills of this great band, started to come out to create a more personal, brutal sound.

Breeding The Spawn was poorly produced but always great and with this huge piece of burning piece of hyper technical brutality, we have the consecration of a band that never went down in inspiration and brutality. Here we can find some of the most violent and technical compositions that the death metal ever left us…they are all for us to enjoy. The band has hugely grown in technique and impact and the production is finally great and able to exalt each single instruments.

What I always adored in the music by Suffocation is the perfect mix of technical parts on the rhythmic session united to always catchy and destructive riffs. You cannot hear a part for more than 10 seconds in a song, but the great thing is that each one of these parts has a perfectly recognizable riff you can notice listen after listen. The up tempo and the blast beats fury are always present but they last just for few seconds in a song, broken by tech passages and doom, rotten parts, to start again after few minutes. That’s way you can really appreciate each parts without being boring or annoying.

It’s the case, for example of the brutal blast beats assault of “Depths Of Depravity” or the title track. The solos are mostly evocative and violent at the same time and with evocative I don’t mean the melodic/wanky ones, but full of negative and gore atmosphere ones. Frank at the vocals is always, simply amazing and brutal like none else in this field. The vocals are so particular in their classic, canonical growl that they result unmistakable!

The bass is always pounding and doesn’t remain behind a sort of a curtain made by the other instruments because its distortion is simply powerful without being too extreme. “Suspended In Tribulation” is great for this, apart from its sheer brutality. The riffs are like a heavy, black mountain coming to bury you. The heaviness of the guitars, especially on the power chords is something you can’t listen anywhere. This is class with brutality.

“The Invoking” is another highlight here among awesome songs and features great riffs, almost progressive during the verses. They could be labelled as progressive technical brutal death ones. What a mess! And how many of you sang the “Synthetically Revived” refrain with Frank each time, listening to this song? I’m sure many of you! This is awesome with up tempos/blast beats sections. Overall, a milestone in brutal death metal, made of simply great, violent and catchy songs. It’s impossible to resist to this album.

Suffocation aren't known as one of the legends of death metal for nothing. The band debuted right when the 90's started with their Reincremated demo and their infamous Human Waste EP, and when "Effigy of the Forgotten" was released in 1991, it tore death metal a new asshole. But what I'm reviewing isn't "Effigy of the Forgotten", it's their pinnacle work which is called "Pierced From Within", and what an amazing album this is, especially for following up the horribly produced "Breeding The Spawn".

This album is a landmark in death metal. Scott Burns' production fits perfectly for such an album like this, in which every instrument makes a standout, and it gives it a true dark feel. Mike Smith didn't do the drumming for this album, but album replacement Doug Bohn fits it so well that it's not obvious to tell that the drummer got switched. Guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Doug Cerrito perfect the use of riffs and solos here, but the bassist Chris Richards makes an outstanding appearance throughout the album, especially on the priceless intro to "Depths of Depravity". Frank Mullen's vocals fit with the music brilliantly, and while he may not have the best range out there, I really cannot complain since it's perfect for Suffocation.

The songs are brilliantly composed. Each song strays away from the banality that the genre is known to cause by using complex structures, and they fit well. For example, listening to the title track "Pierced From Within", it's hard to not be pulled away, because with its frantic pace, the sudden slowdown gives the ears a pleasant surprise. Each track is able to switch tempos and time signatures without it sounding pretentious at all, which Suffocation deserves plenty of respect for.

I can't recommend this album enough. The variation that lies within each song, the crushing and dark production that fits it well, the amazing musicianship from each member, it's definitely not to be missed if you appreciate brutal or technical death metal.

Suffocation had set the bar for technically brutal Death Metal. Even to this day they have stayed true to their roots (unlike countless bands). Some people may hold their snobby noses to this band, but secretly sneak listens when no one is listening. A band that started back in 1990 have evolved and one of the afterbirths of that evolution is Pierced from Within.

I am not going to rehash was most people know... it's brutal and technical yah yah, but what is different about this album then the previous two. The main body of the riffs are thrashy and executed in short shredding bursts. The semi-technical fret dancing by Hobbs is properly placed through out each song and gives this album a better sense of atomsphere. Maybe not as melodic as the Swedish kind, but that was never Suffocations aim. What has created a shift in song writing and stucture is the drums. This time around Smith has sat this one out and Doug Bohn has stepped in for the fight. To my suprise this has opened up Suffocation's sound to a more varied and organic feel. Instead of the constant cold mechanical blasting listeners were accustom to Bohn delivers more variety. The problem with Smith was he used blasting to fill out every part of a song (as if he did know what else to do), where (for example) double bass could have broken up the blandness of constant grind drumming. Note worthy, the drum sound does not over power the music and instead there is greater thickness in the riffs and bass quitar.

You can't complain about Suffocation's Pierced from Within, this album delivers what the fans of the genre want. If you don't like "brutal" Death Metal, why even bother. To complain about this album's merits is like a person who hates cheese cake whining about the whole cheese cake he just ate.

This is an excellent slab of brutal/technical Death Metal, and I'm not much into the "Brutal" Death Metal, aside from Suffocation and Nile, so that should tell you I'm very picky, and it should tell you theres something special about this album, the first thing that makes Suffocation different and better than most Brutal Death Metal bands, is that they don't try to out brutalize others, none of that "OH I CAN PLAY FASTER THAN YOU" shit, the other thing, is Suffocation realize they have to use Thrash riffs to make it good, as they are lots of Thrash riffs present here.

The production on this album is typical Scott Burns production, raw, but not bad production, meaning everything is heard, but it's not overdone, gives it more of an edge.

Let's take a stroll down Pierced From Within lane, "Pierced From Within" Opens here, definatly the kind of song you want to open an album with, as it's full of killer fast riffs, and killer groove riffs, and blast beats that just pummel, and a solo that will make you drool for more, and "Thrones of Blood" does just that, opening with a nice groove riff, and a killer verse, with that same riff underneath, theres lots of spots in this song that catch you off gaurd, and when it slows down, wow, is it fucking heavy!, and another solo to die for, Cerrito is a winner for sure, and this album does not let up here "Depths of Depravity" Opens with some nice drum and bass parts, and then Franks demonic growl comes in eventually, and the riffs take you on a hellride and back, as they are fucking brutal as all hell, this song gains some nice speed, and has nice blast beats as well, and yet, ANOTHER, killer solo, this guy is a fucking nut!, one great solo after another.

And if you think that was good, wait until you hear "Suspended in Tribulation" Opening with some brutal as all fuck slower riffs, and listen to that bass solo!, crazy, and Franks voice eventually fades in, this song has some spots that catch you off gaurd as well, one minute there will be a repeated riff, then next, a totally new riff, the technicallity is amazing here, the outro riff is fucking killer too, and that takes us to "Torn into Enthrallment" Whats that? It's an acoustic intro!, brutal DM with an acoustic intro?! YES!, and it works well too, this song is more midpaced, but it still kicks ass, as it's filled with interesting riffs and grooves, and another killer bass solo too, and yet another solo that just owns, "The Invoking" Has a main riff that is similar to the title track, but still has a slight twist to it, making it different too, love when it slows down too, as it's just heavy as fuck, makes you want to stomp someones head in, yes it's that brutal!

Now since I don't want to make this review to long, I will just state that "Synthetically Revived" and "Brood of Hatred" are both good songs, but theres nothing there that makes them standout from the rest, but they are good, now, "Breeding The Spawn" Is re-recorded here, and it sounds MUCH better than it did on "Breeding The Spawn" good production did this song alot of justice, if you liked the original version, you'll fall in love with this at first listen!

Roadrunner made them rush their previous album "Breeding The Spawn" and that was what ruined it, in that 2 year time spand, Suffocation worked hard for their next release, being this, and wanted to make up for the last one, and believe me, they did, and then some!, so if you weren't happy with BTS, and want something killer with good production, then check this one out.

Suffo have always been one of the favourites for me in the technical area of Death Metal. They've been able to retain an oldschool sense of riffing while still playing insanely. It's not many bands who can remain this comprehensable and infectious when going berserk on their individual instruments.

The songwriting is done in an almost progressive fashion with plummeling stuctures that start, stop and change tempo flawlessly. It remains headbangable and straight up brutal while staying true to the progressive influences. I'll say it again: Not many bands can accomplish this, creds to Suffocation.

Production values are a bit strange, but fitting in their own way. The bass is possibly the loudest I've ever heard and it gives the CD an intersting punch. In terms of quality it's not perfection, but perfect for the music. There are a bunch of bass solos, as in the beginning of "Depths of Depravity", which must be one of the most crushing intro sections ever.

Most songs also mix in some Thrash, and it's just as well done as the progressive influences. There's the starts and stops of 80's Thrash, yet the drums and guitars are blasting back and forth in a modern tech-Death fashion. Technical bands who tend to play a bunch of harmonics instead of solid riffs should take notes here.

The vocals are pretty good and flows well with the music. It's often driven by the riffs, which is exactly how bands like this should do it. They're not supposed to drive the music by themselves, they're supposed to enforce it. And they surely do.

Beyond the fact that most songs on the CD sounds the same, there's no real weakness to be found here. "Pierced From Within" is a treat for anyone who likes brutal and technical Death Metal with a sense of structure and solid riffing. Recommended.

Favourite tracks: "Pierced From Within", "Depths of Depravity", "Torn Into Enthrallment"

I hadn't listened to this album in about 4 years, and had forgotten how it sounded - somewhere down the line it degenerated in my mind to the point that I falsely remembered Suffocation as a bad Morbid Angel clone.

Hah! Wrong! These guys could (and, probably should) rip Morbid Angel a bazillion fucking assholes and leave them to die. These guys are actually pretty good. Their drummer isn't a stupid showoff fuckwad, and actually plays drum parts that fit in the context of the songs. When the songs are brutal, they are brutal, not self-parodisingly "br00tal" in the stupid Dying Fetus moshcore sense of the word.

And the riffs... there are a whole fucking fuckload of fucking riffs. Oh yes. This album is complicated as fuck, with the riffs constantly changing, and a whole lot of tempo changes as well. This album isn't generally very fast, though it does tend to alternate between fast and midpaced a lot. And mercifully, the riffage isn't a bad ripoff of Pleasure to Kill - not too many tremolo riffs to be found here. I mean tremolo riffs are fun, but annoying as fuck when overused.

Highlights... Suspended in Tribulation. What a headbanging monster. The whole thing is 7 minutes long - I have no idea why these guys aren't hailed as the masters of progressive death metal. Fucking Opeth gets that crown, and they are barely progressive and certainly not death metal. Fuck Opeth. Another highlight - The Invoking. The fast section in the middle is just fucking great, especially with the slightly melodic (well, about as melodic as Suffocation gets) riff passage. Synthetic Revival has some definite Raining Blood moments in there.

The production is very good... it's heavy as fuck, and accents the guitars - something that a lot of death metal bands forget about. A great, heavy (suffocating! Hah!) guitar tone, combined with the tasteful mix of the drums (not so fucking loud that you can hear nothing but blastbeats), and excellent bass work that you can hear, and also it tends to do something interesting most of the time, a good contrast to the rhythm guitars. Then the vocals - above average for death metal. Good range of expression, while remaining firmly in the "cookie monster" range. I don't find them particularly memorable, but they don't get on my nerves and go well with the riffs, so I like them.

Worth getting? If you like anything resembling death metal, this should pretty much be a staple. For a thrasher like me, you will miss the constant whiplash - though it is pretty above average for death metal. My only real complaints are that sometimes the drummer does get a bit irritating (but again, not nearly as bad as, say Krisiun or whatnot), and the songs tend to meander a bit without really being initially memorable. But still, this is solid death metal. As I said - Suckfuck Angel should learn from this and die.