Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Clarity Through Deprevation The Warmth Within The Dark Your Last Breaths Return To The Abyss The Violation Of The Dark Light Some Things Should Be Left Alone Caught Between Two Worlds Epitaph Of The Credulous Release Date: June 9, 2017 Label: Nuclear Blast Records Website: www.suffocationofficial.com www.facebook.com/suffocation |
Frank Mullen - Vocals Terrence Hobbs - Guitars Charlie Errigo - Guitars Derek Boyer - Bass Eric Morotti - Drums
Opener "Clarity Through Deprevation" is a good indicator of what you will be getting with the rest of the record. Blast beats fly in from all over, and the way the breakdown, which the band is known for popularizing, ends the song and transitions into the next song "The Warmth Within The Dark" is incredible. We now come to one of the album's highlights, which is "Return To The Abyss", where near the end of the song, there's a Middle Eastern flavoured guitar lick playing underneath the rampaging riffs. This may cause some purists to scratch their heads a bit, but it's a standout moment on the album. As we enter the second half of the record with tracks like "The Violation", the title track and "Some Things Should Be Left Alone", things start to feel a little same-same, and it gets a little hard to distinguish one song from another. This is one of the low points of the album.
A familiar sight on Suffocation records now is a re-recording of a classic. Ever since the self-titled album in 2006, the band have re-recorded a song from Breeding The Spawn and it's always the last track on the album. To date, they've re-recorded "Prelude To Repulsion" on the self-titled record, "Marital Decimation" on Blood Oath, "Beginning Of Sorrow" on Pinnacle Of Bedlam and this album features "Epitaph Of The Credulous". If you prefer your death metal with the more modern production, then this re-recording should definitely satisfy you. With all that said, Of The Dark Light is definitely not the best Suffocation album of all time, but it's one of the best of the albums since the band reformed. It's also one of this year's essential death metal releases.
Highs: Tight performances, brutal vocals, pure solid death metal
Lows: It gets hard to tell the songs in the second half apart
Final Rating: 7/10
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