Album Review: Suffocation-Pinnacle of Bedlam

The Suffocation of old is back people!

 Pinnacle of Bedlam sees the brutal death metal legends unleashing their most vicious attack in years. I don't know what caused this sudden re-ignition of fury in Suffocation's music, I'm just glad that it has returned. It's not that Suffocation's last few records were bad or not heavy, they were just missing the savage edge that their 90's releases had. The fire has undeniably returned and Suffocation wastes little time proving that point with the opening track "Cycles of Suffering". The guitars are chunky and loud, the drums are roaring and Frank Mullen is screaming his lungs out, every second of it is glorious. "Cycles of Suffering" is just the start of the brutal death metal master class that is Pinnacle of Bedlam. There are a boatload of memorable, uncompromising riffs, pounding blast beats from new drummer Dave Culross (who does a great job replacing legendary founding drummer Mike Smith,) and of course, Frank Mullen's legendary pig squeals/low screams areon full display. There are even tracks like "Sullen Days" where they go out of their comfort zone and throw some melody into their songs. I never thought I'd see the day where one of the most relentlessly heavy bands of all-time puts melody into their music, but I must say it works well. It's not prominent enough to make Suffocation's music any less intense, but it does make for a nice brief diversion from the sledgehammer-esque heaviness that consumes most of the album.

Pinnacle of Bedlam is hands down the best Suffocation release since 1998's Despise the Sun. The grizzled death metal vets have finally released a record that is in the vicinity of the quality of their older material. This is some crushing material with a bit of new found melody to change things up a little bit without sacrificing any of the record's brutality. With Pinnacle of Bedlam, Suffocation can now proudly join fellow old-school brutal death metal torchbearers Dying Fetus as a band that is still making quality, in-your-face brutal death metal well into their second decades as a band. Hopefully Suffocation can continue to pump out records as good as Pinnacle of Bedlam for the rest of their career.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Cycles of Suffering
2.Eminent Wrath
3.Sullen Days