ALBUM REVIEW: The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh – Suppression
After a lengthy seven-year hiatus from putting out new recorded material, Chilean death metallers SUPPRESSION have been on a bit of a roll since the release of their Repugnant Remains EP back in late 2019. Following this with a demo last year in quick succession, they have seemingly gone from strength to strength musically. With one foot firmly planted within old school influences like DEATH and OBITUARY, whilst applying the right amount of modern polish and technical finesse to their music to keep things fresh, the band have garnered a sizeable name for themselves off the back of these two most recent releases, gaining themselves a following even outside of South America. Their debut album, The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh looks to establish them as a band to watch, and, due in no small part to the excellent music on this record, succeeds in this aim.
Lifelessness is a strong and aggressive start to the record, with chaotic drums, chunky, jarring guitars and a tar thick bassline all creating a huge, monstrous sound right out of the gate. It’s an incredibly rhythmic yet dissonant slab of death metal, with some excellent bellicose vocals and eerie melodies further cementing this song’s dark and ominous aura. Overfeeding Gaps takes the denser qualities of the previous track but applies a slower pace and a great disjointed bass sound into the mix, which, along with some solid guitar work, gives this an oddly effective, experimental edge that’s evocative of classic acts like DEATH whilst still remaining rooted in a polished modern style and production. It’s a perfect mix of both old and new approaches to death metal that leaves its mark despite being a little more reserved musically.
Monochromatic Chambers pushes the music back into a more cacophonous and unpredictable direction, with dizzying guitars, feral, throaty vocals and intricate, precise drums providing a whirlwind of nauseating musicianship interspersed with bursts of slick melodicism and more technical bass hooks. It makes for a more intense song from a technical and compositional sense and proves to be an early album highlight.
Unperpetual Misery possesses a rumbling, bass-heavy sound that establishes it as an absolute juggernaut immediately. With its massive, groove-laden sound peppered with meaty leads and arid vocals which add an air of discordance, along with the brief bursts of unhinged brutality that are spread liberally throughout, it results in yet another great example of classic death metal done incredibly well. The ethereal, cleaner sound that dominated the closing moments of this track are carried forward into Unwinding Harmonies, a powerfully atmospheric piece of music that shifts the tone of the record in a completely different but nonetheless engrossing direction. The lack of distortion in the first motif of the track, along with the looser, more technical approach overall, help to make this an immersive and eclectic effort, filling the void left by the vocals with some of the most imaginative work on the album so far.
Lost Eyes is a short but punchy offering that has a far more visceral, speed-driven sound, with thunderous drums, frenetic guitars and sludgy bass all colliding as the low roar of the vocals carves its way to the forefront and accentuates the intensity on offer. Misunderstanding Reality utilises the grating rhythms and liquid bass to craft a more progressive sound, without sacrificing any of the savagery that has characterised the album up to this point. The harder aspects are even coarser, and the lighter, melody-driven sections are similarly more polished, balancing the two extremes of the band’s sound perfectly.
Self-Eaten Alive serves as another textbook example of huge, weighty death metal with spartan lead riffs which, despite having a more straightforward sound, manages to inject some really adventurous guitar work into the mix that helps elevate it significantly. The fleeting acoustic interlude Arrowheads is a great addition that sets the tone for the album’s final track, Extortion Behaviors; this is a song that does a great job of coalescing the myriad elements within the band’s sound, from beefy rhythms, bestial vocals, tight, catchy guitars and the as always bubbling bass into one place. It lurches from chaotic fills to more focused monolithic passages with ease, serving as one last wide-ranging and masterful effort that concludes the album on one of its highest points.
As far as debut albums go, The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh does an exceptionally good job of laying down some extremely strong foundations for the band to build upon in the future. The musicianship on all fronts is fantastic, but arguably one of the stand out performances on here comes from the bass, adding its own distinct flavour to proceedings that fans of albums like Individual Thought Patterns will definitely appreciate. Making a sizeable nod to the genre’s classic sound without straying into the realms of weak imitation, it’s got a timeless but vibrant sound that will appeal to death metal fans of all stripes, and will hopefully mark the direction of the band’s music going forward, as there’s very little to dislike here.
Rating: 8/10
The Sorrow Of Soul Through Flesh is out now via Unspeakable Axe Records.
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