ALBUM REVIEW: Suffocating Hallucination – Full Of Hell & Primitive Man
FULL OF HELL and PRIMITIVE MAN; the former inarguably one of the most extreme and forward thinking grindcore bands of the past decade, and the latter much the same in the world of doom and sludge. Even though the genres one might initially place them in may sit at wildly different ends of the extreme music spectrum – particularly in terms of tempo and song length – it isn’t hard to see why these two bands would get on. Neither are strangers to collaboration, and neither have ever been easily confined to the tropes of their chosen scenes; if anything, Suffocating Hallucination was an inevitability, and as this fully collaborative full-length arrives this Friday via Closed Casket Activities the only real concern is whether the world is ready to withstand a union of such tantalising and terrifying extremity.
First off it does seem to be worth mentioning that this is what you might call a ‘proper’ collaboration; not just a few members of each working together in your relatively standard four or five-piece line-up, not one band just tagging along while the other clearly leads the way, but all seven individuals (four from FULL OF HELL, three from PRIMITIVE MAN) working together in the studio to produce something that neither could have done without the other. What that means in real terms is that Suffocating Hallucination feels arguably even more all-encompassing than anything either of these bands have done before, which really is a daunting prospect when one considers just how oppressive records like Trumpeting Ecstasy and Insurmountable already are.
A lot of that comes down to Andrew Nelson’s phenomenal mix and the manner in which it manages to give clear space to each element of the septet’s considerable arsenal. Drummers Dave Bland and Joe Linden are panned hard left and hard right, at times playing in unison and elsewhere – perhaps most notably on lead single Rubble Home – veering down wildly different paths to powerfully disorienting effect. The guitars are kept similarly separated, rarely playing the same thing and instead working with the bass (or basses) to fill every available gap with sludge, noise and squealing feedback. Of course, none of this would be complete without vocalist Dylan Walker and Ethan Lee McCarthy who use their combined versatility to cover the record in layer upon layer of hatred, anguish and bile.
Arguably most impressive is that even with all that firepower in the room, and even as the record’s 34-minute runtime renders it far from bloated, Suffocating Hallucination is an incredibly patient record, just as willing to leave listeners in the unease of Dwindling Will’s six-and-a-half minutes of menacing soundscapes as it is to rip them to pieces in the aptly-titled 26-second Bludgeon. Some might quickly point to such patience being more PRIMITIVE MAN’s wheelhouse than FULL OF HELL’s, but to do so would be to overlook the talent the latter have shown for much the same with discography stand-outs like At The Cauldron’s Bottom and Armory Of Obsidian Glass.
Nowhere does all this come together more powerfully – more memorably even – than in the album’s staggering closer Tunnels To God. Sprawled across no less than 11 and a half minutes (for context that’s more than half the runtime of FULL OF HELL’s latest ‘regular’ full-length) it devotes a full five of these to a gradual build through VANGELIS-esque synths, cacophonous cymbals and rumbling bass before bringing in a truly breath-taking pay-off. The crushing sludge and guttural vocals may have been wholly expected, but it’s the bleak, twisted beauty of the guitar which soars above all of this that makes this track so special. It’s almost a shame this one has been released as a single, as it really is Suffocating Hallucination’s finest moment, and without doubt the furthest it pushes past what one might have expected from this collaboration when it was first announced.
There will be some who hear an element of indulgence in this record, and to an extent they would be right. There is something wilfully antagonistic about the way the septet ends Tunnels Of God with 90 seconds of piercing feedback, for example, and it has to be acknowledged that were these bands not already so endeared to so many, the aforementioned Dwindling Will might test listeners’ patience with its lengthy runtime. But if anyone’s earned the right to indulge, it’s these two. For those seeking an experience as complex and layered as this, it’s not unlike exploring UK casinos accepting crypto, where the stakes feel heightened, the unknown draws you in, and the unpredictability keeps you engaged. Suffocating Hallucination often reaches the levels of apocalyptic devastation one would hope from such a collaboration, but the fact that it manages to unsettle and overwhelm the listener even beyond expected means provides perhaps the greatest testament to these bands’ undisputed creative calibre. Hopefully, it’s not just a one-off, as there is definitely more mileage here.
Rating: 8/10
Suffocating Hallucination is set for release on March 3rd via Closed Casket Activities.
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