Album Review : Suffocation - Hymns From The Apocrypha (2023)
When a successful band enters the legacy phase of its career, you normally have to change your expectation if they release new material. Metallica haven't released anything iconic in thirty years. Candlemass are still rocking out, but nowhere near as hard as they used to. I mean, you can't expect men in their fifties and sixties to carry the same intensity they had in their twenties. But brutal death metal legends Suffocation can. Their new record Hymns From The Apocrypha is as intense as anything they ever did.
No one really expected Suffocation to survive the departure of their iconic frontman Frank Mullen who straight up retired. But they did. They found a guy named Ricky Myers who drums for other bands like Disgorge and can apparently sing… kind of like Frank. I was taken aback by the opener. I thought it was Frank for like ten seconds or so. The title song is one of the most technical songs on the most technical numbers on the record. It’s carried by Terrence Hobbs complex riffs and inspired solos.
It's a chuggy and punishing nightmare, but it's nowhere near the most brutal thing on Hymns From The Apocrypha.
The real scorching starts with Perpetual Deception, an unperedictable, blast beat-laden assault that features not one, but two of the nastiest breakdowns of the year. Both are carried expertly by Ricky Myers's theatrical performance and Chris Donaldson's crushing production. Dim Veil Of Obscurity features some more of them complex signature riffs by Terrence Hobbs. I love Eric Morotti's drumming on this song, because he shows both amazing physicality and a great understanding its dynamics.
Good drumming is supposed to make a song feel bigger and more powerful and Morotti definitely does on Hymns From The Apocrypha. That man is a good drummer.
Speaking of which, Immortal Execration is an absolute fucking monolith of power and violence. It's Suffocation at their most bombastic : chuggy riffs, a solo that textures the song emotionally, a commanding vocal performance, an inhuman rhythm section and a monster breakdown at the end. If I had to explain what Suffocation sounds like to someone, I'd send them that song. It's all the controlled aggression and predatory gloom that makes them great wrapped up in four minutes and a half.
I have to take a second to shout out Ricky Myers before I continue. I know he's technically been with the band for four years already, but stepping in the shoes of Frank Mullen and keeping the sonic dynamics of such a stand out band alive on NEW FUCKING MATERIAL is almost mission impossible. For a one note growler, he colors his performances with emotional and a unique cadence that makes him so fucking cool to hear. It's not Frank. but it's as if Frank's son had taken over his old man's job.
Seraphim Enslavement more of a straightforward Suffocation song. It has a weird structure and these weird, dissonant riffs that you could find in old school material that endeared them so much to tech crowd. Less my thing. Descendants is one of them blast beat heavy uberphysical affairs that they do well and energetically enough, but other bands can do also. Terrence Hobbs has this wonderful solo in it that allies originality, technicality and emotion that only he seems to be able to pull off, though.
Not gonna lie. I think Embrace The Suffering is my favorite song on Hymns From The Apocrypha. The riffs are what stood out to me and how Terrence Hobbs and Charlie Errigo blend them together. It’s such a gripping journey, you almost overlook the technicality of the song. Embrace The Suffering is really a song where torment is the leading emotion and not necessarily anger and destruction. It feels like another layer to the Suffocation experience. It even features one of the most original breakdowns I heard in some time.
Delusions Of Mortality is another breakneck banger. The only song on the record to clock under four minutes. It alternated between chuggy, predatory riffs and blazingly fast parts to create a straightforward, but well-balanced affair. The closer Ignorant Deprivation is the second longest song on the record and it's a memorable one. I don't know if Chris Donaldson worked some of his magic in the booth, but Ricky Myers sounds fucking otherworldly on it. The breakdown is an face-melting bliss.
I don't know how production works, but you can hear the instruments as loudly and clearly as possible on Hymns From The Apocrypha. Derek Boyer's bass and Eric Morotti are just a tiny bit louder that the guitars in the mix and accentuate its dramatic effect with their raw energy. Some extreme metal records sound too pristine and perfect to translate its negative energy, but it's not the case here. Donaldson's work is squeaky clean, but it leaves room for each musician's color and personality.
*
The pleasure of listening to Suffocation is to harness all the anger and the self-destructive potential inside you and let it consume itself in your headphones. It's music with immense cathartic power and that power can definitely be found on Hymns From The Apocrypha. This might not be Pierced From Within, but if you throw this record within Suffocation's nineties discography and press play, I probably could not tell you which songs are from which era. This is the most exciting legacy phase I've seen from any band.
