Suffocation – Hymns From The Apocrypha
Reviewed By: Jason Deaville
Review Score: 9.5
There’s a lot to unpack here, so bear with me. To start, it seems like an eternity since we last saw an album from New York City brutal death metal godfathers, Suffocation. In fact, it’s the same length of time as elapsed between their incredible Despise The Sun EP (1998) and their follow-up full-length, Souls To Deny (2004). Six years, to be exact. A lot can happen in six years, and a lot has happened in the last six years.
Let’s take things back to 2017 and Suffocation’s last album, … And Dark Light. It was with this album that the band introduced two new members, drummer Eric Morotti (ex-Killitorus) and guitarist Charlie Errigo (ex-Pyrexia), replacing the departed Dave Culross and Guy Marchais. With this new blood – whom, I should mention, are quite young comparatively (both in their early 30s) – there was a marked uptick in the technicality and precision department on … And Dark Light. As a result, the album was less… how shall I say… um… brutal. Those crushing breakdowns and pitriffs that the band are so well known for (they basically invented what would later become slam metal) took a back seat to all the noodling. This isn’t to say that … And Dark Light is a bad album. Not at all. It’s just… different. In fact, for this scribe, it is one of their best albums since Souls To Deny.
Just after the release of … And Dark Light the death metal world was saddened with the announcement that original vocalist, Frank Mullen, had decided to call it a day. The band followed this up with an announcement that they would be continuing on without Frank, with occasional live vocalist, Ricky Myers, becoming Suffocation‘s full-time man behind the mic. Now, if you were lucky enough to catch Suffocation with Ricky as frontman, you would know that he was more than capable. That said, there was always the question of: can he pull this off in the recording studio? Well, we have that answer now with their brand new album, Hymns From The Apocrypha.
Immediately, the cover art is a reminder of the good old days, looking like a mash-up of the art found on their classic Effigy Of The Forgotten (1991), Despise The Sun (1998), and Souls To Deny (2004). Where the art on their last album (… And Dark Light) looked like something you might find gracing an Archspire album, Hymns From The Apocrypha‘s cover is old-school, dark, foreboding, and starkly broootal. We are off to a good start.
The album begins with an eerie swell that bleeds into the title track. The band waste no time in introducing Ricky, who immediately unleashes his Mullen-like growl with a proficiency and resonation not found on a Suffocation album in quite some time. Look, don’t get me wrong, I love Frank, we all do. The guy is a fucking legend. That being said, Frank’s recorded performance on the last two Mullen-lead albums was, well, slightly underwhelming. There was something missing. The ‘boom’ (for lack of a better word) was just not there like it had been. Ricky, though. Wow. Dude is a ferocious beast, his growl bellowed from the pits of purgatory. Impressive. Truly.
At the twenty-five second mark of the song (after one of the most ferocious intros to a Suffocation album I think I have ever heard) the song comes to a complete halt. It is at this point that drummer Eric Morotti gives a quick tap of his ride cymbal before we are off to the races again. I gotta say, the guitar interplay of Terrance Hobbs and Charlie Errigo sounds fucking phenomenal… probably the best guitar duo since the Hoffman brothers and the first three Deicide albums. These guys just click, and you can hear it clear as a fucking bell. The song is a great example of what Suffocation does best, ebbing and flowing through both incredibly violent riffing and then pummeling the listener with suffocating, chest-crushing breakdowns. It’s this back and forth that keeps things so interesting, with the listener never knowing what to expect next.
Is it just me, or has the pinch-harmonic in death metal all but disappeared? Well, not today, folks. It is precisely at the twenty-seven second mark of track number two, ‘Perpetual Deception’, that we are treated to one of those goosebump-inducing squeaks. It might be a small thing, but it makes my day. If this weren’t enough, at approximately a minute and a half, Suffocation treat us to the first extended breakdown of the album thus far, chugging and crushing their way through thirty seconds of a pitriff that rivals the very best of Dying Fetus‘ most beefy moments. As the breakdown progresses, you can just make out bassist Derek Boyer dropping some weird ass grooves. It’s slightly odd, slightly jarring, and a bit creepy, yet it works so fucking well. The song ends in old-school fashion, with Ricky barking out four syllables perfectly synced to the last four beats of the song… and, BOOM, the song is done in epic, old-school death metal fashion.
I never in a million years thought I would utter the name Megadeth when describing a Suffocation song. Well, I suppose there is a first time for everything. Let me explain: the opening riff of track three, ‘Dim Veil Of Oscurity’ has a slight Rust In Peace-era vibe to it. There is a cadence and catchiness to it that, in an alternate universe, could have been a classic Megadeth riff. It’s certainly different from anything I have heard from Suffocation; but, again, it works. Anything Megadeth-sounding quickly flies out the window as soon as Ricky opens his guttural yaw to bark out a nice seven second growl. Come to think of it, this isn’t the end of the thrash references, as there is a gallop to this song that recalls the Bay Area sound of the late 80s, with tinges of both Testament and Death Angel. Again, quite different from what we normally would hear from Suffocation, but it doesn’t sound out of place. For those cringing, let me reassure you that the song ends in true Suffocation style, with the last several seconds delivering a cranium-crushing breakdown that culminates in a fade-out of both riff and Ricky into nothingness. From this void, Ricky is quickly resurrected with a vocal swell that bleeds into the beginning of the next song. Very cool.
Have you ever wondered what a collaboration between Suffocation guitarist/main songwriter Terrance Hobbs and Morbid Angel guitarist/main songwriter Trey Azagthoth would sound like? Well, ruminate no longer, friends, as track four, ‘Immortal Execration’, is your answer. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the first thirty seconds of this song will likely be the heaviest thing you have ever heard in your life. Period. It truly defies explanation how destructively heavy this song is. In fact, the first second of the song is proof of this.
Try something for me: before listening to the song, grab your best pair of headphones and crank them to about 3/4 full volume. Now, press play. Did you shit your pants? Yeah, I thought so. That bass drop (combined with the opening note) in the first second of the song is crushing enough to collapse worlds. I’m gonna go out on another limb and say that this is perhaps the best Suffocation song ever written and recorded. It is so good that it stands out like a sore thumb on this album, and the fucked up thing about that statement is that this album is full of bangers! It is just that good. I’m done. I can’t even. Go listen.
At just over halfway through the album, Suffocation treat us to perhaps the most traditional sounding Suffocation song yet with the track ‘Seraphim Enslavement’. This song, more than any other on the album, demonstrates just how proficient guitarist Charlie Errigo is in the shredding department, laying down the perfect solo, which is immediately followed by an equally-amazing solo from Terrance. These two are shaping up to be the King/Hanneman of brutal death metal.
Track six, ‘Descendants’, is oddly playful, particularly the solo which is a bit whimsical in its delivery. It is definitely my least favourite song on the album (whimsical + playful + Suffocation = befuddlement). I’ll just leave it at that. Definitely the album’s one ‘skippable’ track, and the only reason this album didn’t get a perfect score.
Brain-melting death metal. This is how I would describe track eight, ‘Embrace The Suffering’. Now, this isn’t a speed-induced brain melt (such as one might experience when listening to old Cryptopsy). My brain melted as a result of a riff I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around. Said riff kicks in at about fifteen seconds and slithers and snakes its way into your ears with a jarring-yet-enjoyable modulation. It’s slightly discordant while at the same time palatable. In fact, the entire song is slightly inharmonious, including the breakdown at the end, which has a very odd time signature. Definitely the brutal death metal equivalent of the general theory of relativity.
Track eight, ‘Delusions Of Mortality’, is perhaps Hymns From The Apocrypha‘s catchiest moment. If one were to catch me tapping my foot to a Suffocation song, it would likely be to this track. There is a swagger to this song that is truly infectious. At just over halfway through the song, the band showcases another crushingly-heavy breakdown (lasting for over forty seconds) which rivals anything found on their breakdown-rife album, Effigy Of The Forgotten. Clocking in at just over three and a half minutes, it is the album’s shortest track.
The final track, ‘Ignorant Deprivation’, sees Suffocation once again resurrecting a track from their 1993 album, Breeding The Spawn, just as they have done over the last several albums. The story goes, Suffocation were not happy with the production found on Breeding The Spawn, so they made it their goal to re-record each and every track from the album, which were then added as the last song of each new album. Very cool approach, and one that has worked out well (a nice little easter egg for fans to be found at the end of every new album). I believe there are only two more Breeding The Spawn tracks left to re-record (‘Animalistic Offerings’ and ‘Ornaments Of Decrepancy’), which I hope we’ll get on the next couple of Suffocation albums.
To close, Hymns From The Apocrypha is definitely a new chapter for Suffocation, yet at the same time it’s a familiar read. The band doesn’t stray too far from their tried and true formula of brutal death metal. The production is crisp and clean, but not overly polished. It still retains that signature Suffocation heaviness with loads of low end. Vocalist Ricky Myers might have had some big shoes to fill, but as it turns out, those shoes were a size too small. Ricky delivers on all fronts and, along with his cohorts, cements Suffocation‘s place in this world of contemporary death metal. No one touches these guys, and no one ever will.
Hymns From The Apocrypha drops on November 3rd via Nuclear Blast Records.