SUFFOCATION — Blood Oath (review)

SUFFOCATION — Blood Oath album cover Album · 2009 · Brutal Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
bartosso
Intelligent death metal (IDM?)

I like my death metal weird. Whether it's an unusual concept, creative approach to technicality or bizarre influences, I always hope for something to knock my socks off. As long as it's not over the top, cliched or symphonic, I can take it. And while Blood Oath didn't exactly make me barefooted, it certainly made me listen.

The first thing that sticks out is the production. The way Blood Oath sounds is an exemplary case of well-done, modern yet organic production. While many modern acts decide to enhance the sound with computer software, multi-layering or whatnot, Suffocation achieved a perfect balance between clarity and brutality. All instruments have their space in the mix and all frequencies sound both very natural and ear-friendly. Speaking of instruments, we've got a prominent presence of bass guitar here. Derek Boyer does some fantastic bass work in the album and I think his playing is one of the things I enjoyed most about Blood Oath. It's not a revolutionary record from Suffocation and it's obvious that the guys have no ambition to change death metal anymore. They've done what they've done in the 90s and now they'd rather evolve slowly. The riffs, in which Terence Hobbs and Guy Marchais manage to combine groove with technicality, are surely the highlights of this album. And there's quite a lot of those. Both guitarists are very creative and if they ground out more of those original, twisted riffs (as for example opening and middle themes of "Images of Purgatory" or fantastic groovy riff in "Come Hell or High Priest"), that album would be essential.

All in all, I find Blood Oath to be a very, very good release that gave me a lot of enjoyment. The music is brutal, technical and intricate as befits New York death metal. Still, the imaginative parts I've mentioned are a bit watered down by more generic, brutal death metal riffing so some progress towards experimentation would be very welcome. A must-have for every fan of american death metal.
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