ALBUM REVIEW: Suffer To Rise – Voluntary Mortification
Christian deathcore is a bit of an oxymoron on the surface of it all. A medium so often associated with devil worship, however sincere bands and individuals are about it, seems an odd place for devout Christians to ply their trade to “proclaim the healing message of Jesus Christ”. But when you sit back and think about it some more, it makes perfect sense – you wouldn’t think twice about a record that chronicles a journey through hell, so why can’t it be looked at from the other side as someone who wants to escape it?
That’s precisely what VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION have done here with their debut album Suffer To Rise. A concept album that tells the tale of protagonist Paul’s descent into the torments of hell and their ultimate redemption, brought to life through 11 tracks of searing brutality (well, nine tracks plus an intro and an interlude). From Paul’s regret at shunning the notion of the afterlife before his death, to him ultimately emerging “renewed and reinvigorated as a vindicator for Truth in a world that has lost its way”, it’s a decent backbone of a narrative that neatly props up a fine deathcore effort.
After a minute of feedback and noise, Suffer To Rise bursts to life in earnest with Death Tremors; a pulsating, groove-rich mass of unabashed deathcore, this gets heads banging straight out of the gate. There are a couple of concerns around vocals which this review will come onto, but for the most part, the five-piece have neatly folded a classic death metal influence into their wider deathcore offering for an end product that will curb stomp you into another realm.
At their most bruising, Vindicator includes a section that is as brutal as almost anything we’ve heard on the scene this year. Slowing down to a torturous, glacial stomp, every thunderclap of drums and guitars feels like a nuclear bomb detonating inside your head. As you scramble to pick up your decimated remains, the assault continues with one final barrage of blistering riffs and harsh barked vocals.
But let’s talk about the vocals for a second, because while vocalist Conner’s (no surnames given) highs are plenty formidable, his lows pale in comparison to some of his contemporaries. Take for instance his first line on the record, coming on the aforementioned Death Tremors – something just feels weak in the delivery of that initial roar of “Death Tremors” which is a real shame on a proper opener to what this band is here to do. As the record goes on, it is hidden a bit better like on The Cull which is just an absolute shredder from start to end. Overall his range does rescue this record to an extent – again, the throat shredding ferocity of his highs rattles through to your core – but it’s those meaty, guttural lows that really sell a great deathcore record and they just don’t seem to be VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION’s strong suit right now.
The back half of the record contains some high-tier chunks of deathcore though – such as The Cull, Abomination and album closer Crush The Serpent’s Head, which bookends the album in suitably destructive form. Slowing to a near impossible crawl and exiting with one final drawn out, gargling growl, you will feel as if you are the serpent in the song title as they mercilessly deconstruct your cranium one final time.
On the whole, Suffer To Rise is an interesting story told well enough, without really doing anything new sonically. VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION are certainly a solid prospect though and whether you share their faith or not, their music is killer enough to warrant a listen, simply for just how brutal they can get.
Rating: 7/10
Suffer To Rise is set for release on July 22nd via Rottweiler Records.
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