Human Waste

Man, what would death metal be like without Suffocation? They are one of the most recognizable, successful death metal bands in the game. The true originators of brutal death metal, these guys pioneered a whole new genre that spawned a complete horde of copycats trying to out-heavy the other. While some of those “copycats” took that style and made it their own, these guys have their own style and take on the genre. This debut ep is quite possibly the very first brutal death metal release. And goddamn, what a murky, brutal beginning for this god-tier band.

While most of these songs would later appear on the debut album, you can easily tell these are much rawer versions of their later counterparts. Right from the beginning it’s fucking intense and pummeling, thrashing you around relentlessly and beating you to a pulp. It never truly slows down, blast beats are something that is used frequently here. The production value here is very primitive and raw, everything is crunchy and transparent. The guitars are very chuggy with the addition of those iconic palm-muted riffs, palm muting is something this band would begin to craft, making it a part of their sound. Every song has a catchy hook or vocal part that makes everything memorable and distinguishable. This ep is a very furious experience, with the integration of mid-paced grooves along with slow heavy breakdowns. Solos are very frantic and technical, done at the hands of Terrance Hobbs, his writing style would give Suffocation their signature sound. Mike Smith would also do the same with the drums, his ungodly fast drum fills and blast beats would become a staple within this band and genre.

This ep is all about the intensity and heaviness while still making incredibly potent songs, Frank Mullens's vocals sound raspier rather than the low guttural performance he would showcase on “Effigy of the Forgotten”. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, he still manages to put on a filthy performance. His vocal flow as he would continue to show in the future is incredible, his cadences are absurdly fast at certain points. Technicality is something this band also would begin to incorporate within their style of death metal, without making it sound like utter guitar wankery. Songwriting and execution-wise are spectacular, always maintaining that very heavy, chunky sound while still having a good consistent beat that you can easily bang your head to. Slams wouldn’t truly rear their ugly heads and get recognition until the debut, but you can still hear them within this ep, on almost every song there is some sort of groove chug or slam that propels the music into new levels of heaviness.

“Catatonia” is easily the best song on the ep, it’s a slow, slamming, chunky number with one of the most memorable beginnings to a death metal song ever. It doesn’t really speed up until the halfway/latter part of the song, the lyrics are also iconic and easily able to sing along to. It’s also where you see Frank Mullens's vocals at their most guttural. It’s a continuous beat down all the way through, it’s easily one of the most iconic death metal songs ever.

This ep is brilliant, nothing feels out of place or rushed, and every song is special and effective. This is how death metal should be, heavy, hooky, and intense. This band would reach even higher heights with the masterpiece of a debut record, but this ep is just as good. Filthy as it should be.

One thing that I love about cover artwork is its ability to represent what kind of album you’re dealing with and of course plenty of death metal albums from its heyday were full of iconic artworks. Now take a quick look at the one of Human Waste and look at that thing. Doesn’t that make you want to check this out if you haven't already?

By 1991 plenty of death metal bands turned death metal into a more technical and sophisticated direction and while I like some outputs of plenty of the bigger names, I can see why some death metal fans became disappointed by the outputs of some bands. Pestilence became too Americanized and pretentious, Death headed towards something that wasn’t exactly the norm and Atheist released their most progressive album so far. Granted, it makes perfect sense to me that some death metal fans were scratching their heads at this time and wonder where all the vigorous aggression of some bands went.

In Suffocation’s case, the combination of relentless brutality and technical skill made Human Waste so lethal. This would by no means be as technical as the band’s follow up records, yet I feel that this EP was already one of the more sophisticated efforts of its time. Sure, there’s some thrash-inspired trickery (though often supported by a good amount of blastbeats) evident here, but the mid-tempo segments have more in common with, say, Martin van Drunen-era Pestilence due to their clinical touches than any other band. Just hear how ‘’Catatonia’’ demolishes onward like a bulldozer before that riff at 0:30 sound like something you’d expect out of Malleus Maleficarum. I love that album, so you can bet I love this one too – that’s how things work, right? Even that blistering riff at 3:00 sounds like vaguely like the best Death-esque riff Chuck Schuldiner never wrote. Think of one of the most blistering riffs of Human injected with an enormous amount of testosterone and you’re not far off. Of course riffs have to go somewhere, but you can bet that Suffocation had a serious thing for effective song-craft. ‘’Infecting the Crypts’’ goes straight for the kill and that riff at 1:45 makes a contester for one of my favorite death metal riffs of all time; as if you’re on rollercoaster that takes you through a god damn slaughterhouse before you come crashing down on your own grave. The break is intense, but it all leads to that hyper-speed ending where the blood-thirsty guitars match with the mayhem of those blastbeats. ‘’Synthetically Revived’’ sounds like it was clearly inspired by ‘’Out of the Body’’ (Pestilence again) – halfway through it turns into an even more threatening offering by the time that riff at 1:55 appears; as if Consuming Impulse was played by a group of rabies-infected musicians and of course it turns into another tour de force of calculated bloodshed from this point.

You also couldn’t ask for a more fitting production as far as I’m concerned. Frank Mullen gurgles through these compositions as if you’re listening to the misanthropic hatred of that demonic beast on the cover artwork itself. Noisy dive bombs represent the end of times, thanks to that chainsaw of a guitar tone (quite a big difference compared to the face crushing tone the band would equip themselves with later) and the drum sound allows Mike Smith to create havoc in the best way possible without interrupting anyone else through an unbalanced mix or whatever. Human Waste is clearly fantastic, but my only point of criticism literally shows up at the end of it. Indeed, ‘’Jesus Wept’’ isn’t quite as hook-y as the tracks that came beforehand and while it still sees Suffocation breaking barriers, the majority of the damage was already inflicted by the first four tracks. Of course, even this album closer is still more threatening than what most death metal bands had come up with. Human Waste represents a milestone of brutality and isn't made for the weak - you simply won’t find any better death metal EP out there.

This review was originally written for antichristmagazine.com

This EP is heavy. Bodybags-filled-with-bricks heavy. A-monster-so-big-skyscrapers-crumple-under-its-feet-like-empty-pop-cans heavy. A-neutron-star's-guts heavy. HEAVY. In 2020, Human Waste retains its overwhelming, unfathomable weight; imagine what people made of it in 1991. If Altars of Madness was the dividing line signaling that death metal was not merely a more extreme version of thrash but its own separate entity, Human Waste did the same to delineate brutal death metal as something related to but independent from traditional DM. At time of its release, it may have been tempting to dismiss it as another regional sound—Suffocation incorporated elements of New York hardcore after all—but the style was so extreme, so unashamed in its maximalism that it's no surprise it moved outside the Big Apple, shacking up with other underground styles to spawn a brood of bastard sub-subgenres: deathgrind, slam, modern tech death.

Tuned so low they graze Satan's scalp, the riffs are unceasing. They pound and trample with abandon, leaving in their tracks so many victims of blunt force trauma that to treat them the world's largest ICU would exhaust all resources, right down to its final roll of gauze, to the remaining sanity of the last nurse who could keep her eyelids open. Through this carnage, the band shows even wanton violence can be performed with finesse; pummelings comes in a multitude of forms. Normally I'd single out some tracks to highlight the different flavors of pummel on display, but every track offers a cornucopia of brutality. Suffocation hurdle from femur-snapping grooves to barreling runs to tremolo that tears off skin to torso-flattening riffs, with no heed paid to conventional ideas of song structure or natural flow. Ideas don't lead one to the other; they burst into existence telefragging whatever was happening before. Schuldiner introduced elaborate musicanship to DM which was expanded upon by Atheist and Cynic among others, but tech death as we know if today owes far more to the likes of Suffocation and Gorguts. Not that everything on Human Waste is guitar godly. The solos won't make it onto any “best of” lists, though their fitfulness gels with the chaos of the album. It sounds like the guitarist started practicing his divebombs in the middle of “Human Waste” and they decided to leave it in. Somewhere a whammy bar wakes up in a cold sweat from nightmares of this record.

Mike Smith's performance declares his status as a top ranking drummer and it's just a teaser for the absolute beast he'd become. He takes the intensity and techniques of grindcore and applies them with lethal precision. Frank Mullen stands at the other end of the spectrum of versatility, but his presence is no less arresting. His growls are as monotonous as detractors claim all DM vocals are, but they are so low, so ground-quaking they succeed on sheer force. To this day, these are among the most ferocious death growls recorded, projecting a malevolence that's missing from the subgenre in which such vocals have largely been supplanted by burps and porcine warbling. Revolutionary as this EP is, it retains elements of its parent genre often absent from its brute descendents. Palpable dread runs throughout, hangs overhead and skitters underfoot. This sense for the sinister creeps in in some unexpected ways. “Jesus Wept” for a moment sounds like it will break into a hellbound waltz. Much of this character is happenstance, owing to the unintended yet wonderfully grimy production. There's enough mud for an Austrian bodybuilder to evade detection from an extraterrestrial trophy hunter. Other “flaws” are localized: static garbles part of “Jesus Wept” and the audio cuts out of the left channel at one point during bonus track “Reincremation” (I verified these also show up on the version Relapse Records posted to Bandcamp). The only production quirk not to my liking is how light the bass is in the mix. Don't trot out that canard that bass is never audible in extreme metal. You can hear it fine in “Human Waste”, because despite being the title track it's actually pulled from the Reincremated demo which had a bass-friendlier production. The other two tracks from that demo are included as bonus tracks on reissues of Human Waste making it even more essential.

As a once avid trading card collector, it warms my heart to see artwork from my favorite Magic: The Gathering artist, Ron Spencer. As far as I can tell, this is the only album cover he ever made yet there's no reason it should be. How badass is that demon? Like death metal covers, MTG went on to get artists a lot slicker than Spencer, but as the style was homogenized something was lost. Suffocation followed a similar trajectory. The band has had a respectable career, but past this my admiration is of an objective sort. Talented though inexperienced, they brought a naivety that makes the chaos of Human Waste feel genuine not calculated. It stands athwart sterility and weakness.

I love that this reissue combines the first Suffocation release from 1990, the Reincremated demo. Now you have eight traditional death metal songs instead of five, with different mixing and sound, and a better bang for your buck. Honesty, this is a great purchase for anyone who’s interested. This is also in development of what would later become the pioneering of the brutal/technical subgenres of death metal: Effigy of the Forgotten, the band’s debut.

I gotta start off with Catatonia because it’s a blast of a song, both live and studio. It’s a bit raw, more thrash metal-influenced (drums wise), and with the death growls that’ll later distinguish Frank Mullen’s (the vocalist) very own was still in development here, and the music is absolutely fantastic. If I were to live in 1991, they would blow me away, too. Most of the EP speaks for itself since all the songs are pretty much in development, and to this day maintained quality and importance. Mike Smith, the drummer, surely blasts a lot of beats, yet concentrated more towards drums of thrash metal and hardcore punk. As I already mentioned, Frank was still developing his death growls, or maybe the production was just making it sound like the death growls are intentionally raw and incomprehensible. I liked the reverb effect on his vocals when he growls longer in Infecting the Crypts and Reincremation; really justifies the pounding of the music and overall experience. The bass gets loved, so that’s good to hear, and the guys behind the guitars are giving us an observation of their technical skill when they were just in their early 20s.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like most of the EP. All the re-recorded songs that made it to Effigy of the Forgotten sound much better because they sound like as they should; brutal/technical death metal over traditional death metal or thrash metal. However, the original versions of Infecting the Crypts and Reincremation are extremely suitable for traditional death metal. I like the quality and Frank’s death growls. Synthetically Revived‘s re-recorded version that ended up on Pierced from Within also sounds better and kinda belongs into said record, as if it’s an entirely new song. Mass Obliteration sounds empty with the decreased volume of the pitched harmonics of the guitars, and Frank’s growls kinda suck compared to the re-recorded version. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s missing vocals is another con.

Nevertheless, this reissue of the band’s beginning is a phenomenal EP because of the design, quality, music, and evolution. It showcases the improvements and potential the band worked on for the foreseeable future and how it would inspire thousands of bands who will help shape the aforementioned subgenres of death metal. The standout songs would obviously be the timeless Catatonia and the cruel, primitive version of Reincremation.

Human Waste sounds nasty, revolting, and while it lacks some of whats to come it has an archaic appeal unique to itself. The all-over-the-place compositional style Suffocation would later adopt to great effect is largely absent here. The band instead leans toward more traditional early death metal aesthetics to deliver their visceral onslaught.

As such, this has the tendency to come off akin to a slightly more animated Altars of Madness with deeper, more subsonic roars manning the helm. Some songs, like "Synthetically Revived" hang onto some of the chugging open notes just long enough to be considered thrash-influenced. Others like "Catatonia" feature neck-jerking grooves alongside the guitars' dissonant bursts of distortion. The raw, underproduced nature of the guitars is befitting of the nefarious subject matter. The tone is crisp and biting, featuring an overuse of mid-range that gives the riffs a blubbery, asphyxiating quality that remained a Suffocation hallmark at least until Pierced from Within was released four years later. Barohn's artificial sounding, buzzing bass timbre is brash and upfront. Due to either production oversights or a stylistic decision on the band's part, the bass is especially virulent and oppressive during "Jesus Wept", showing where this style could have eventually ended up had it been pursued in earnest.

Smith's percussive onslaught is relatively dialed back compared to his modern output, relying more on fast thrash patterns and churning double-bass to drive the proceedings forward. He still blasts, but his performance lacks much of the instrumental proficiency present on his later acrobatic feats. There are some moments when Human Waste rises to undisputed greatness, like the ascending-descending riffs present during the breakdown of "Infecting the Crypts" and the entirety of "Synthetically Revived". Not to shortchange Hobbs, but I almost wonder if Cerrito is the true mastermind behind the sporadically radiated surges of atonal distortion that make Human Waste such a treat to listen to. The band has always appeared to be desperately staving off the maggots of compositional stagnation ever since his departure for Hate Eternal in 1998.

I suppose the one area in which Human Waste is lacking is in Mullen's sepulchral delivery. I fully understand that the vocals are an afterthought in music like this, but his performance sounds like he is trying to navigate a massive amount of phlegm in order to get his roars out properly. Again, it may be a production issue, but it makes me chuckle all the same. The closer "Human Waste" stands out for two reasons: it features a brief instrumental intro (which I believe is from Hellraiser although I haven't checked) and the fact that it appears to be an older demo track. While it naturally separates itself from the rest of the EP on a superficial level for these reasons, the material within is on par with the rest of Human Waste.

Although some of Suffocation's early releases (mainly Effigy of the Forgotten) would contain trace elements of this style, there is still a unique appeal to the material within Human Waste. Like a putrefying corpse, it only gets better with age.

As a genre, death metal is mostly appealing because of the combined concentration of technical prowess and unconventional songwriting tendencies. It’s easy to see how a number of people who are taken by the vile, atonal nightmare that is this form of extreme music might also have an affinity for obscure progressive metal or the inevitable hybrid of the two. For its time, it could be said that Suffocation were dabbling in a progressive area, though obviously not in the same way that Dream Theater was. Most might point to Cannibal Corpse or Deicide as the most aggressive beast on the block at this time, but when taking the astonishingly technical character of Suffocation meshed with its unashamed incorporation of grind/hardcore influences from the New York scene, they edge out all the competition despite such nasty offerings as “Legion” or “Eaten Back To Life”.

“Human Waste” literally provides a musical picture in perfect harmony with the nasty, “Hell Awaits” on steroids album cover that accompanies it. The guitars are extremely muddy and deep, yet still percussive enough to provide the punch inherent in a number of the thrashing, Slayer/Sodom inspired work going on here. “Jesus Wept” particularly cuts like a decrepit cousin of something heard on “Persecution Mania”, differing mostly in the sheer intensity on display, particularly in Frank Mullen’s guttural ear drum assault. While perhaps not quite as inhuman and otherworldly as what Lord Worm would bring to the table a couple years later, this takes the ugliest aspects of both Chris Barnes and Glen Benton, eviscerates and reconstructs the extreme depth and grit of each, and sounds almost like a bellowing dragon after a severe case of acid reflux. The only area where things come up a bit short is the low-fidelity, tinny, poppy drum production, which tends to be more of a staple of grindcore bands of late.

Mercifully short and forbidding from its smoking nose to the tip of its scaled tail, this EP defines everything that was right with death metal in the early 90s. It offers a bleaker, more horrifying picture than that painted by Chuck Schuldiner in the 80s, yet is still musically close enough to the vintage sound of that era to be identifiable with it. Though by the standards of 1990 this was well removed from what was conventional thrash, today this listens more like an old school death/thrash album with a modified production than anything else. Even on slower and more groove informed numbers like “Synthetically Revived”, the formulaic and bleak melodic content found in the riff set and the occasional bursts of speed are blatantly in the post-”Reign In Blood” mindset that is more readily associated with thrash oriented death metal rather than what is considered brutal and technical by today’s standards.

The inevitable changes in the definitions of terms used to describe metal music might confuse most who are looking to this band as an early example of what they’ve come to love in bands like Cryptopsy, Decrepit Birth or Necrophagist. This is much closer to what is now considered the archaic sound that is still pushed by Cannibal Corpse to this day, although its much more potent and will probably hold some appeal for current fans of brutal death who have some appreciation for the roots of death metal. But categories aside, this is an intense listen, especially considering that its over 20 years old. Everything about it, including the flaws in production, are endearing and only further add to an already hearty array of blood and guts. Forget about riding the haunted mansion ride at your nearby amusement park, forget about “House Of A Thousand Corpses”, just listen to this and see if you can avoid getting freaked out.

Boy is THIS a mess of an album...

I stumbled across this album by pure accident while record shopping one day. Seeing it in my hands made me remember plentiful positive reviews about these guys. Thankfully it was on sale, so I figured if I didn't like it it wasn't that be a loss. What did I have to lose?

Well, I was right...I didn't like it.

I don't know what it is about brutal death metal but it never clicked with me, no matter how many bands I've checked out. I don't know if it's the randomocity, the lack of cohesiveness, or the generally sloppy playing, but I never got into this sorta thing. I understand how big the genre is within the metal community, as well as its continual embrace for other fans, but I just don't care for it. And SUFFOCATION didn't helping matters. Not as technically innovative as MORBID ANGEL or as rip-roarin'ly miasmic as DEICIDE, this band, and this album in particular, sits within middle-of-the-road-style mediocrity that confuses and confounds rather than excites. The guitars and bass sorta fly all over the place with a sense of devil-may-care loose playing that's nigh impossible to decipher, the drumwork steamrolls tempos and riffs alike into inorganically sludgey pools (though some of the faster moments and fills are kinda tasty), and the vocals...well, death metal vocals are an art-form and acquired taste in and of itself, so by lack of surprise I didn't care for the ascerbic burps and vomitory excess that flitters by as an afterthough. And altogether the group plugs along in a kind of incohesity that hearkens wonder if it was written and recorded as they went along (like the prime examples in "Infecting the Crypts", "Jesus Wept" and the title track). If any good points are present it's that usually old-school death metal has decent production and this is no exception. Things are presented with a clarity that makes you notice subtle nuances of riffery and vocal work beyond the amorphous blob of sound presented as the musical backdrop.

So all in all this is a mess best left for the death metal elite and those looking to get into the roots of the style. While not the worst thing I've ever heard, this isn't really entertaining either. Better luck next time, guys.

This is the first release on Relapse Records on CD. This is the first release from the legendary Suffocation on a label. The Human Waste [EP] continues on with what the original demo was doing, playing an early form of Brutal Death/Thrash Metal. All of the songs have since been re-recorded on their other albums, with the exception of the The Human Waste song. So it is easy to see the original forms of the songs on this release.

If you have ever seen Suffocation live you know that if they play any of these songs that it will be in the re-recorded form as opposed to the raw sounding The Human Waste [EP] recordings. But I don’t think that means the band doesn’t like the originals. After all it is what made them. I have both the original and the remastered versions of this release; the only real difference is that it is louder. The remastered version includes the whole original demo as the last three tracks. If you read my review on that, you will know basically what this EP sounds like. The intensity of the songs just rip your face off. The drumming is top notch, blast beats to the seemingly perfect fills. The guitars shred out brutal thrash riffs and the bass goes right along. The vocals are different than what is to follow in Suffocation’s career; they are harsh as opposed to the deep grunts/growls later on.

Suffocation is one of the most renowned bands in Death Metal history. Easily, I could say, my favorite band of all time. It was refreshing when I heard this EP for the first time and realized where the band had actually come from because my introduction to them was Effigy of the Forgotten. It is hard for me to imagine what the scene was actually like around the time of this EP’s release. Considering since I was only 2 years old I would have no clue. But if anyone else was making music similar to this I could only imagine the complete and total destruction of everything in its path.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

I imagine when this e.p. came out, it blew everything else of the water in terms of both speed and intensity. I mean shit this was basically the album that gave a big fuck you to traditional song structures. You don’t have the basic opening riff-chorus-riff-solo-riff-chorus-ending riff structure here. You have basically riff #1, riff #2, riff#3,….riff #35 with a solo wherever the hell they want to throw it in. This is all played at high velocity. Anything that was considered hyper speed at the time had just got downgraded when this little beast reared it’s abominant head. Onto the album:

The first you'll notice is (like I mentioned earlier), the speed of the playing - Infecting the Crypts basically sounds like a bunch of thrash riffs, played while on a speed binge. Secondly, the drumming! I really wish a lot of other bands followed Suffocation's lead more often in this respect. Mike Smith uses tastefully placed blast beats and every hit has some impact - there are times where even the bass drum can be likened to the sound of the footsteps of some giant beast bearing down on you. The vocals are pretty monstrous as well. I guess given the recording quality, Frank Mullen's vocals sound fucking deep! I could only really liken him to Sylvain Houde (formerly of Kataklysm), in this album in particular. It could also be his method, I'm not entirely sure. As for the bass - it's hardly audible (except when Suffocation goes into sludge mode). When it's present however it does help add to the rhythm and does have a dominance of it's own.

As far is this album goes, it's classic all around. Like pretty much of ever other album from Suffocation it offers tracks all unique of each other, all with the intent to sledgehammer you and your loved ones (possibly your rare collectibles, as well) to oblivion. This offering has tracks that are less complex than Suffo's later works, which actually kind of make the tracks easier to get into at times. Instead of trying to put riffs to the nth power, they decided that only 18 riffs per song were appropriate here. All the songs are great so to judge on the basis of each track would be counter-intuitive. I would like to point a highlight - the catchiest song out of the whole lot - Human Waste (at least for me). This song gets me every time, I can't help but to headbang to this shit! The fucking chugging thrash riff at the beginning is Suffocation's way of saying you will not leave this track, or album for that matter, unscathed. Definitely a must own for those who hail from the school of brutality.

Suffocation are considered the pioneers of the brutal death metal played in a technical way. Since the beginning of their career, they successfully mixed high dose of brutality with some more elaborated guitars and drums patterns. This is one of the very first platter where this is demonstrated. This EP contains some of the most brutal and raw songs ever written by the group from New York.
They are all classics and some tracks like "Infecting The Crypts" or "Catatonia" (originally written in 1988 as one of the very first group’s song) are still regarded as the highest level of brutality reached by the group in those years.

The production of this EP is still a bit raw, but perfect to show the group’s violence. Anyway you can hear every instrument very well and the band sounds incredibly powerful and compact. The songs are still influenced by the grindcore genre, like the beginning and the end of "Infecting The Crypts" song where the drummer makes some brutal blast beats and generally in every song there are a lot of up tempo parts. The slower parts are directly influenced by the most rotten side of the death metal, like early Obituary. Already from here you can hear the inhuman guitars work, supported by a fast, a bit raw, but powerful drumming.

The beginning of "Mass Obliteration" song is heavily influenced by Napalm Death in that period (Harmony Corruption) with a great guitar work that, going on in this song, increases in technique and speed. "Catatonia" is a very brutal track, that begins very slowly and after a while the violence is unleashed. This one was also re-recorded for the EP Despise The Sun. Human Waste track is the shortest one in this EP…so rotten and primordial with Frank Mullen who seems to come out from another world with his growls, so extreme in that period and still a trademark of the group nowadays.

The re-mastered copies of this great EP contain also two songs from their early demo, Reincremation (1990). The tracks are very raw but well recorded. Folks, this is a great EP and a piece of history if you want to know where and when brutal death metal was born. Highly recommended! All hail to the fathers of brutality!!

This is solid old-school death metal - the kind that doesn't stray too far from the thrash ideals that make death metal worth listening to in the first place. This one is a lot faster overall, and has more high-end in the mix than the more sludgy later stuff that Suffocation would do. The vocals are also slightly different, and altogether it goes well. It's not quite as heavy, but it's still certainly no Sonata Arctica.

It's an EP, so we have only 6 songs here - but they're all pretty damn good. The highlight has to be probably Synthetically Revived, though they are all similar. This is a good thing - you don't have them pulling anything stupid. While Suckbid Angel was fucking around with idiocy, these guys were putting out solid heavy metal. Catatonia is probably the slowest song on here, though slow is a relative term - it's just more midpaced, similar to later Suffocation, as opposed to the frantic sound they borrow from Possessed and Slayer and use for most of the EP.

The last track, Human Waste, actually sounds pretty different production-wise... I'm not sure if it's a demo track or something. It pretty much starts off as a classic thrash number before becoming more death-metal. Though again, if you take Pierced from Within as 1995, and the rest of the EP as 1991, this sounds like it's 1988 - the guitar tone doesn't have as much low-end and in general sounds more like Hell Awaits than anything else. Very interesting - qualitywise the song blends in well with the rest of the EP, though it does make me wonder.

In any case, this is pretty essential. In 1991 death metal was still pretty viable and worth hearing, and this is a good example of the best of the genre. And remember, kids... Suckbid Angel sucks. There's real death metal out there.

Right from the start, you know this CD is going to kick your ass. The riffs are non-stop, and all of them are great. The drumming is superb, the bass adds a good backbone, and the vocals sound great.

"Infecting the Crypts" opens with a bone snapping riff, which is joined by great drumming after a few seconds. The song is very catchy, with all the instruments melding together perfectly. No one instrument stands out, yet they all shine.

"Synthetically Revived" opens with a classic death metal crunch, similar to Hammer Smashed Face, and starts out a bit slower then "Infecting the Crypts". This song has a bit of an apocalyptic aura to it, especially during the guitar solo. The drumming really stands out, with Mike Smith showing off his prowess.

"Mass Obliteration" opens with a killer drum roll, followed by a riff built for moshing. The entire song is a mosh pit haven. Faster then hell riffs, insane drumming, and gruesome vocals. There is just enough change up to keep you interested, but not so much that it takes away from the song.

"Catatonia" has got to be one of the best death metal songs, ever. It is up there with "Chopped in Half" and "Hammer Smashed Face". Slow at first, it picks up around 1:30, and will force you to head bang throughout the rest of the song. The riffs are brilliant, and the drumming entrances you. The guitar solo at 3:00 is great, and adds a bit on melody to the song.

"Jesus Wept" not only has an amusing song name, it has a very catchy opening. The riffs keep a steady rhythm, and the drumming is quick and simple. The song goes through a pile of change ups, but seems to keep the same rhythm through them all. Another great guitar solo turns up at 3:00, but this one lasts a bit longer then "Catatonia"s solo, and the song end immediatly after it.

"Human Waste" opens with what sounds like a holy keyboard instrumental. Thankfully, it only lasts a few seconds, and the demonic music comes on once again. This song is a demo song, so the quality is a bit lower, but it still holds up against the rest of the CD. Nice thick riffs support drums that are a bit louder then everything else on the song. The singer sounds a bit cleaner, but no so much that you would ever doubt his vileness.


All together, this CD is a must have for any fan of hard hitting death metal. A gem from New York.

Released in 1991.... This is the first ever release from Relapse Records, I believe. Considering they're my favorite "big" metal label, I picked this EP up, not only because I had yet to hear what Suffocation was about, but simply because it was a piece of history to Relapse...

My first impression was along the lines of "Wow, this is a shitty production." Yeah, it's a bit muddy, and I though the album was recorded in a sewer because of the dirty atmosphere. But looking past the atmosphere... well, there's countless riffs, every single one of highest quality. Not too much variation in each song (other than the title track, but its just a production change (its a demo track)), just different riffs. This album is pretty much a catalog full of riffs... a generic DM band could simply take 2 or 3 of the riffs out of one of these six tracks, slow them down, throw them together, and have a GREAT song. Theres about 2 or 3 million riffs here, so I suppose this EP contains a million quality DM songs....

Eh, let's move on. The drumming is, well, quite brutal. Considering this EP was put out in 1991, I'd have to say this was definitely the most brutal display of drumming in a metal release. Definitely some grind influence here... but if you absolutely hate blast beats, don't worry. The drumming is very dynamic and blasts aren't implemented for more than 10% of each track. But geez, Suffocation sure does know how to utilize the blasts... very intense.

The vocals? Frank Mullen is one of my favorite vocalists and this EP is the primary reason. Totally inhuman screams and gargles. I can't make out more than a handful of words, but who really cares? Metal isn't about lyrics; It's about intensity and rawness and speed and killing things and all that good stuff. If you want to read and interpret the words of someone, well, go read a book. That said, there are no lyrics printed in the booklet. Just accept Mullen as a sort of percussive instrument.

My 2 favorite tracks on this album are Infecting the Crypts and Jesus Wept. No particular reason, the songs don't connect with me on some lame emotional level... the riffs are just quite ungodly. Infecting the Crypts also contains an intense little solo that just gets stuck in my head for hours...

Well, I don't know what else to say. If you like brutal death metal and you don't own this, buy it. If you don't like Suffocation, castrate yourself, as your genitals are obviously functionless, anyways. This is metal for guys who like metal. And, well, hmm. They were Flo's favorite band, I hear. You know, that guy from Cryptopsy? If you don't respect my opinion, respect his! Buy this, and then buy every other Suffocation album.