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Suffocation > ...of the Dark Light > Reviews
Suffocation - ...of the Dark Light

Suffocation - ...Of Dark Light - 90%

Orbitball, December 22nd, 2019
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Nuclear Blast (EU)

This album exceeded my expectations of this band. Long time veterans of their technical death metal genre, they kill it once again with quality music. Both rhythm and lead guitars are superb throughout this release. I liked all of the songs. It never lets up, the riffs are just mind boggling. That's what makes Suffocation one of the best bands in this genre. They totally kill it! All the tracks are intriguing, to listen to at least. They really shine here and the production quality is perfect. Not a track on here that I dislke. I'm somewhat into technical death metal like Archspire, but that's really the extent of it.

Suffocation has influenced many bands since their formation early on in the scene. I still remember getting 'Effigy of the Forgotten' and was fixated on that release for weeks. This one is definitely well mixed and the vocals crush! Nothing I would change on here. The music is phenomenal. That's the reason for the high rating. They just kill! In the lead department as well! I do enjoy the rhythms more though, in all honesty. But still the music is what's so great about this release. It's unrelenting! The intensity is all there. That's what gets you into them. Their aggression.

If you don't have this album, give it a try. It may be something that you'd like if you're into all kinds of metal. You can always download this on Spotify. The band is still active I hope writing new material. Definitely something to check out even if technical death metal is not your thing. The vocals, the music and the production are all quality. All 35+ minutes here of a monumental release. Support the band and get the CD! Listen first on Spotify though if you have that source. Otherwise, just buy the album. Take my word for it, it won't disappoint! This is one helluv a good release!

Way Better Than I Expected - 80%

Petrus_Steele, April 24th, 2019
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Nuclear Blast (EU)

When I listened to this record for the first time, I thought it was worth the title of ...of the Lost Cause, due to the underwhelming material produced. After listening to it again in quite a while, I realized I was badly mistaken. They finally wrote a solid record! By far, it beats all the three predecessors, and arguably the best Suffocation release since Souls to Deny. The production is great, while the band had another change in the lineup for younger musicians, recording interestingly better songs. I also want to give a shout-out to the bass’s production, hinting the return of the technical side of the band, rather than the known brutal one. Perhaps even displaying Derek’s technicality. It’s presented better than ever on this record.

...of the Dark Light presents major changes that could follow through the band’s future. With two former members leaving after the miserable Pinnacle of Bedlam, two lucky youngsters (whom now I wish I would talk with when I had the chance, before they performed in the live show I was in) joined in their replacement. Charlie Errigo (surprisingly enough played in the exact two bands that Guy Marchais was once in: Pyrexia and Internal Bleeding), the new guitarist, and Eric Morotti, the new and official drummer, who was working for the band as a drum technician the year prior. Both dudes helped deliver the modern sound that Suffocation incorporated during their own teens; or relatively just Terrance & Frank. As for Frank, this record is his last, as he hinted retirement during that time (and officially retired like months ago to this day, writing this review).

Opening with Clarity Though Deprivation, it mesmerizes the old sound of the band, with blasted drums, good guitar work, technical and enjoyable bass, and Frank delivering his crushing death growls once again, along an awesome Suffocation-ish breakdown. Return to the Abyss, the second single, showcased the bass’s sound from the likes of Pierced from Within, which was brutally technical in that regard. The main riff and guitar solos are also excellent, not to mention the ending’s second guitar accompanying with weak chorus effect, to make for an atmospheric ending. The Violation is quite simple, yet maintained joy throughout its entirety, as well as providing melodic choruses. Perhaps one of the band’s easier songs around. The title track brings in even more dominant and crushing guitar solos and power chords, prominent bass guitar (especially in the outro), along with what I think is the band’s sickest breakdown; slow, dredging, and powerful. The song itself sounds shorter than the provided time length, but makes for a lot more in that said-felt short time. Some Things Should Be Left Alone is a very Nile-influenced song, judging by the guitar riffs; being both technical and melodic (gave me an ancient Egypt vibe), along the easy-going drums that are actually enjoyable and the strong bass, closing with a sonic guitar solo.

The rest of the songs pretty forgettable. While The Warmth Within the Dark is pretty catchy with a cool, brutal ending, and Your Last Breaths, the first single, having melodic riffs and great guitar solo, they’re just not as memorable as the rest. This includes the last original song, and, of course, and the abomination that was the re-recorded version of Epitaph of the Credulous - my second-favorite Suffocation song.

In all honesty, this record gave me the impression I would dislike it more than Blood Oath or Despise the Sun. Turns out instead, this is the true successor to Souls to Deny, and the band recapturing their sound and momentum after 13 years of three consecutive failed records. ...of the Dark Light is Frank’s farewell and a goodbye gift, delivering a fresh sound for the material it contains. Thanks for everything you’ve given for the fans, Frank, for almost 30 years of your life! You should check the opening song and the songs from 4 to 7. You’re in for a treat!

Clarity Through Decent Songwriting - 67%

Larry6990, October 6th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Nuclear Blast (EU)

Being one of the biggest innovators of a genre like death metal means Suffocation are beyond most qualms. Therefore I won't be referring, or making comparisons, to their definitive works like Effigy Of The Forgotten because the band is a very different creature from the early days. If a veteran act is to remain relevant, what matters is right now. Four years after the moderately divisive Pinnacle Of Bedlam, the Long Islanders return with brand new LP ...Of The Dark Light. Vague title notwithstanding, this is yet another record set to divide fans as a gradual veer towards less popular death metal traits continues. Bottom line: this is a good album with flaws that I hope don't pervade the future songwriting process.

Now, I don't expect brutal or technical death metal acts to be instantly accessible, but Suffocation suffocate themselves a little by making ...Of The Dark Light unmemorable. Except for several pretty darn awesome segments - which unfortunately mean that moments, rather than whole songs, are what stick in the listener's mind - this record can become monotonous very quickly. If you're going to avoid the 'atmospheric build-up' approach and go straight for the jugular, then it would be sensible to include memorable refrains, recognizable vocal patterns and more powerchord-centric riffing. Opener "Clarity Through Deprivation" bombards the audience with blast beats in complex time signatures - never letting up until we hit the (admittedly brilliant) breakdown at the end.

This moment is not unique - in fact, it might be the most simplistic on the album - but the clarity (hehe) with which it is performed, especially vocally, sets the stage for similar sections throughout the record. Frank Mullen, despite still sounding brutally wholesome after thirty years, is responsible for some awkward vocal patterns which alienate the listener more and more. He triumphs on the 'You gag - cannot swallow' section of "The Warmth Within The Dark", and the refrain of "The Violation" is equally enduring. These are refreshing sections that make brutal tech-death weirdly singalong-able. Derek Boyer's work on the bass is also commendable. He is the only thing making the last two tracks anywhere near noteworthy, and his brief break in "Your Last Breaths" before a crushing riff pounds the listener is one of the best moments on the album.

Not many songs feel like they comfortably flow from one section to the next. Several numbers, especially "Return To The Abyss", follow that tertiary structure pioneered by Chuck Schuldiner - but otherwise, the rhapsodic feel of this LP can have an estranging effect. Contrary to most reviewers, I actually favour the periods where the texture is stripped back and the tempo is brought crashing down, such as the latter half of the title-track or the breakdown in "Clarity Through Deprivation". It seems almost insulting to say so, but with ...Of The Dark Light the death metal legends have made an album of near-background music. Incredibly competent background music! Well executed but not necessarily well prepared - this record at least has appropriate artwork and some stand out moments to make your ears perk up. Fans only.

Stands tall in a great year for classic DM. - 87%

MrMetalpants, September 10th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Nuclear Blast (EU)

First off, I appreciate that Suffocation can release so many albums and stay true to itself. I also appreciate that in a year with so many amazing releases from death metal legends, this album can still stand out and really catch my interest (Still waiting on the Cannibal Corpse release later this year with Erik Rutan back producing!).

I must add right off the bat that yes, there are breakdowns. Before you get upset, which is exactly what I did, please take a listen first. If you know there is no way you can get past them, even if they're miles ahead of most deathcore breakdowns, then skip the first track titled "Clarity Through Deprivation". It's unabashedly a breakdown and is a very risky move in this community. Like I said, it is actually an interesting and complex breakdown compared to most as well as the handful of other less-obvious ones. Now that that's out of the way, let's continue.

The instrumentation is to be expected here. They've lost most of their tech elements over the years, but retained some in this release, but the drums seem to be struggling to catch up with the rest of the band in quite a few songs. The lead guitar offers some very solid solos. Not too many lead riffs that make you want more. The bass leaves a little to be desired, but not enough for me to really complain. I know more can be offered from a Suffocation album. The vocals are on point and have some very catchy vocal patterns which is refreshing in death metal. Especially on "The Warmth Within the Dark". Now that is a catchy song!

Overall, this is a very solid release, surpassing their last release, Pinnacle of Bedlam. Solid songs, save for a few generic ones, like "The Violation" and "Return to the Abyss", even though that was a single... Just get past the few decent breakdowns and you're in the clear for a good listen. Also, there is a re-recording of of one of their old songs. It's "Epitaph of the Credulous" from Breeding the Spawn! Solid update.

Best Tracks:
--The Warmth Within the Dark
--Your Last Breaths
--Some Things Should be Left Alone
--Clarity Through Deprivation

Technical Skill: 78% Song-writing: 90% Structure: 92% Originality: 72%

Better than anyone thought it would be - 89%

MikeyC, July 15th, 2017

So I’m just going to come out and say it right now: …Of the Dark Light is their best album since Pierced From Within. It’s not like Suffocation have changed their sound, either – I was a baby when they were producing music more brutal than my diaper accidents – but the difference on …Of the Dark Light is that the band sounds way fresher and invested than they have in the past.

And, again, it’s hardly like …Of the Dark Light is a stray album from their path created in the past. I realise that their post-reunion albums have copped some criticism, and it’s not exactly without merit. I was part of the few that liked Blood Oath, but I found their follow-up Pinnacle of Bedlam to be lacking. It was good, but it was missing a certain spark. Enter their 8th full-length, and a brand new guitarist and drummer, and the difference is noticeable. Call it fresh blood bringing in some fresh thoughts, but it solidifies how strong this album is from start to finish, despite the fact that no-one had any right to think that.

I mentioned the album is strong from beginning to end, with each song providing something awesome and something to hold on to, but the first three songs in particular really drive home how improved …Of the Dark Light is. “Clarity Through Deprivation” starts up without any warning, ending with some awesome slams. “The Warmth Within the Dark” is my favourite track from the album and contains some fantastic lyrics, and the riffs are catchy as hell. “Your Last Breaths” was the first single and was a good choice, showcasing the improved riffs and drumming, all smothered in Frank Mullen’s unique vocal inflection. These three songs in a row to open the album exemplify how much Suffocation have changed, but also how much they haven’t changed. It’s still the same band, but now they’re younger and more energised than in their recent past. I can’t help but believe the injection of younger talent on guitar and drums has revitalised the band, and from the opening few tracks, it becomes apparent that this one is going to have some staying power.

The rest of the album is no slouch, either. Some choice cuts include “The Violation” with its vocal delivery and increase in energy at the end, or perhaps “Some Things Should be Left Alone” with its great mid-section riffing. Again, all the songs are played with conviction and purpose, and to explain them all would be ill-fitting, as I could never properly capture their amazing sound. Every song up to and including the reworked Breeding the Spawn song “Epitaph of the Credulous” highlights how crisp …Of the Dark Light turned out to be.

I mentioned the younger new members before, but they can’t be overstated. Riffs here, while Terrence Hobbs would still be the main engine, is given a tune-up. All over the place, you’ll hear some great slams and riffs that are reminiscent of the band’s glory days, but also fit extremely well here. Even the attempts at some melody/atmosphere in “Return to the Abyss” and “Caught Between Two Worlds” work wonderfully in context. In terms of the slams, they’re played with the trademark Suffocation sound, but, yet again, sound much fresher. The biggest examples of this are in “Clarity Through Deprivation” and “…Of the Dark Light” which slow right down in their second halves and are sure to be bangers when played live. The drumming also contains some zip, too, with some intricate blasting and double-kick work. It’s clear that new skin-basher Eric Morotti brings life to these songs by playing with some assertion and energy – again, not unlike what they had in past drummers, but here the drumming simply sounds like there’s more energy involved.

To be honest, energy is basically the main reason why …Of the Dark Light works so well. The inclusion of younger talent, who no doubt would’ve grown up listening to Suffocation, and would like to put their best foot forward now that they’re in the band they idolised, has been a real shot in the arm for Suffocation. With a slew of new and awesome songs, where “The Warmth Within the Dark” might be their best song in many years, Suffocation have climbed back to the top, where they will hopefully stay in many years to come.

The secret was intertwined and lost within itself - 85%

6CORPSE6GRINDER6, June 23rd, 2017

Suffocation’s new record keeps the same style their reunion albums had (2002-present) but at the same time shows some improvements in the production, while the composition remains astonishingly dark, complex, aggressive and well thought as always. Even if it's not perfect -vocals aren't as strong as they were- it's still a pretty enjoyable album. The addition of a new guitarist instead of Guy Marchais gives the album a fresh feeling, specially in the solo section. He is definitely a gifted player but doesn't display excessive wankery, his playing sounds more obscure than technical.

In terms of composition, we have the same old Suffocation: brutal, technical but not so much and definitely evil and demented. There's blasts beats everywhere, heavy breakdowns and perfectly well written solos. Gutturals delivered by Frank Mullen have changed over the years but still are a trademark sound from the band, just as the Suffo blast or Terrance’s solos and riffs. The new guitarist’s solos are a little bit more academic; I heard some sweep picking I bet it's really hard to play but he manages to do it in a gloomy, gnarly fashion that fits the rest of the music perfectly. Production wise, it still sounds pretty modern like the other reunion albums, but this time everything sounds “less digital” than on their previous record; particularly the drumming, that is superb. Drums have a nice acoustic sound, you can hear changes in the dynamics of the player, it sounds human and not over-compressed, which I consider a big plus. The same goes with guitars, that feature a nice, sharp and dirty tube distortion. Bass is present all over the mix, with a nice metallic tone on the high end, also with some slight distortion that perfectly anchors the guitars with the percussive section. Excellent mix.

Overall I wouldn't say this is the band's best record, but it isn't that much below their golden era records, which also speaks well about the band being consistent in each records quality. Pick it up if you're a fan of the genre, after all this band is its godfather. You won't regret.

Cruuuuuuush - 94%

BastardHead, June 10th, 2017

There have been a lot of changes in the Suffocation camp over the last few years. I've been fairly vocal that their original run is one of the greatest streaks in extreme metal history and they've never really recovered since the reunion (despite still being good), so all of the personnel changes only signaled worse things for me. Mike Smith leaving was pretty up in the air, since he has a well known aggressive personality that makes him hard to work with (and let's be real, he didn't play on Pierced from Within or Despise the Sun either and those albums rule anyway), and then Frank decides to more or less retire from vocals and only play select local shows and perform on albums, then Guy left, leaving Terrence as the sole remaining full time original member of the band.

What this really means is that there are now a lot of young guys in the band who grew up listening to the band well after their classic run in the 90s. Seriously, I am older than Eric and Charlie, and I don't know Kevin's age but he certainly looks like he's in his early 20s at the very latest. Derek was notably "the baby" in the band after the reformation and he turned fuckin' forty this year. So there was always the chance that this meant the band would be re-energized with all this newfound youth, but to me it signaled that the band would lose its signature character. I mean right away the aesthetics of ...of the Dark Light were just wrong. This slick, Fallujah styled cover isn't at all what we know the band for. Song titles like "The Warmth Within the Dark" and "Caught Between Two Worlds" just seemed so modern and indicative of proggy Jacometal bands like Beyond Creation or The Faceless that have gotten so popular lately, clashing strongly with immediate imagery of classic tracks like "Jesus Wept", "Brood of Hatred", and "Infecting the Crypts". So many of the old guard death metallers are getting old and retiring, and so it's really up to these young guys to help continue carrying the band onwards and upwards, and that's a monumental task considering this is Suffofuckingcation we're talking about here.

Well ...of the Dark Light is finally here, and holy fuck it's their best album since Despise the Sun. I never expected this, not in a million god damned years, but all these kids had the absolute best case scenario outcome after all. Terrence sounds reborn as a guitarist, the writing is very much in line with the slightly more straightforward but still unfairly brutal Despise the Sun, a style of death metal with all of the leftover thrashiness found in spots on Effigy of the Forgotten completely excised and enough theatrics to keep the showboating instrumentalists happy while still retaining a base of just seriously fucking good riffs. The energy is completely off the charts, which was showing signs of picking up on Pinnacle of Bedlam after bottoming out on Blood Oath (their only "eh" album), but this time around the band sounds like they're in their 20s again. And it's because they are. Terrence is still obviously the main writer, but there's a ravenous hunger that we haven't heard in decades on here. That twisted, chaotic malevolence that he would flail around with on the early albums is back at it's most unhinged and frantic, while still managing to fall in lockstep with the eternally virgin-tight rhythm section.

One of the reasons I get such a strong Despise the Sun vibe off of this is because Eric Morotti obviously takes more influence from Culross than Smith in terms of the band's previous drummers. Smith's off kilter weirdness is still missed to a degree, but that absolutely punishing salvo that Culross delivered on that legendary EP (and the previous full length in 2013, to be fair) adds so much merciless power to their backbone, and Eric steps up beautifully. You could argue that they lost a bit of a dimension with Smith's anarchic approach to percussion, but I'd counter-argue that Morotti's style only further improves the punishment that's already present. It's Suffocation with a shot in the arm, not a third arm that makes them even more unique. You might be wondering why I'm praising the band so much for normalizing in a way, and that's because having a third arm makes it really fucking difficult to buy a shirt.

Tracks like "Clarity through Deprivation" and the title track have the most devastating breakdowns since "Brood of Hatred", while "Your Last Breaths" ups the technicality to a level potentially unseen with the band. There's a lot on display, but what makes it so special isn't that it's a new bag of tricks for the band, because it's not, but it's special because it's the most well performed this tricks have been in two decades. It doesn't even feel like a throwback as much as it feels like the logical continuation from right before the initial breakup. ...of the Dark Light is the hypothetical lost album from 2000. It's just loaded to the gills with fearless brutality, delivered at a pace not unlike a JATO powered tank. This is definitely their fastest and most ferocious album in a long time, and even occasional bits of atmosphere like the end of "Return to the Abyss" sound apocalyptic instead of odd.

Frank, while being functionally out of the band when on the road, sounds great as well. He's one of the legendary vocalists in the genre for a reason, and his beastly roar is in top form here. His hilariously New Yawk inflection is still there too, so even there they retain a lot of the signature character despite all the new blood. New guy Kevin Muller doesn't get a whole lot of opportunities to shine, but the few moments he does get in the spotlight aren't wasted. One of the only times I can really pick him out is on "The Warmth Within the Dark", otherwise he's such a dead ringer for Frank that we might not even need to worry about his eventual retirement, and that's something I never thought I'd say.

Overall there are precisely zero things I dislike about this record. This is the sound of a band finding their footing again, powering forwards to reclaim their throne. The pummeling battery backing the frantic and crushing guitars provide the soundtrack to the endtimes. Suffocation may have a lot of new faces in the band, but they've only made the band better, against my fears. Drop everything and pick this up, I'm not kidding. We're almost halfway through the year and so far there have only been two albums to instill immediate confidence in me towards their potential to be the Album of the Year. Satan's Hallow is one, and ...of the Dark Light is the other.


Originally written for Lair of the Bastard