SUPPRESSION "The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh"

By Dr. Abner Mality

Many of the South American extreme metal bands are gleefully living in a time warp and recreating the metal sounds of 20 to 30 years ago. Hence, we have Chile's SUPPRESSION, who seem to be obsessed with the sound of PESTILENCE in their "Consuming Impulse" era. PESTILENCE is not the only influence here, but it's by far the predominant one and what's more, these guys do a very good job of recreating that particular sound.

This is brutal, downtuned death metal delivered at extreme velocity, with a lot of twisty riffs and labyrinthine song structures. The songs are "technical", but not in the modern sense...it';s the kind of technicality that early MORBID ANGEL and PESTILENCE delivered, with a very gritty and raw sound. "The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh" almost seems like the forgotten immediate sequel to "Consuming Impulse", with Alejandro Cruz sounding uncannily like Martin van Drunen with his sick and phlegmmy vocal contortions.

It may sound like I'm not impressed, but boy, these guys deliver the goods. "Overfeeding Gaps" and "Misunderstanding Reality" are tornadoes of high velocity brutality while my personal favorite "Unperpetual Misery" throws some bone-crushing slower riffs into the mayhem. The bass playing is very prominent and really warped sounding...there are traces of ATHEIST and the late great Roger Patterson in the instrumental "Unwinding Harmonies".

If you like fast and technical death metal but loath the cleaned up and over-digitized sound of most modern tech death, SUPPRESSION is here to save the day. A strong release!

UNSPEAKABLE AXE RECORDS

SUPPRESSION