Customer Reviews

Souls to Deny

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

O.K. let's have some fun w/ratings. People are way too serious on amazon and think of themselves as 'real' reviewers-give me a break. When I listen to this cd it reminds me of pizza. I am Italian and I LOVE pizza. When I chew on pizza I savor every moment and appreciate the joy it creates. The latest Suffo. cd does the same. When I heard they were reforming a few yrs. ago I was very excited-think pizza again. Let's get the (-) stuff out of the way first. This is in regards to the 'critics' or people claiming they are suffo. fans, but just want to bring the band down. The naysayers say Frank's vocals are too high, the cd is not brutal enough and that 'Effigy.. blows it away, the production is bad and that Mike's drumming blows. Such a shame that these people call themselves people. Suffo. have returned and kids it's not 1990 anymore, this is 2004. So if you're expecting another 'Effigy then go eat a stool. They have matured as they have on every release. The cd is brutal, no debates there. I like how they tie 'Deceit' & 'Tomes of Acrimony' together (musically)-almost like a concept album. There are some serious slams on the cd, of course not like their earlier releases, but again people let's all move forward together and leave the nit-picking to the stools.

I know Suffocation and am proud that they have released such a kick-butt cd. The production is great and so what if Mullen's voice is a little higher then earlier releases. He is getting a little older but his pipes are still working great. He is still one of the best death vocalists out there. New addition of Guy 'sorry I can't hook my friend Frank Rini, who used to sing for Internal Bleeding, up w/a shirt because I am too cheap' Marchais on guitar was wise. Guy has been in the scene for yrs. and is a damn good guitarist. So even though he would not hook me and my friend and former bandmate Chris Pervelis up w/a shirt I forgive him, because we both know I can take him in fisticuffs. Back to the review, the ultimate is to eat some good pizza and listen to 'Souls To Deny'. Keep on truckin' suffo!! Buy or Die!!!

The masters return with Souls To Deny,all in all,a very solid release...This one reminds of Effigy in a way...I mean,both albums are different but they both feature awesome drumming from one of death metal's finest drummers,Mike Smith,his drum fills and double bass work never gets boring,the guitar riffs and leads still sound original,and vokillist Frank Mullen has one of the best growls in the genre,deep and throaty from the bowels of hell,but you can still actually make out some words...I think that is a great "comeback" cd...of course it's not going to be another Pierced,Effigy,or Despise The Sun,it's like 7 or 8 years later,with different members,and it's obvioulsy a differnt time period,i think people just set themselves up for dissappointment,you can't make the same cd everytime...plus these people that complain couldn't make half the cd these guys make...standout tracks besides all of them in my opinion are:Deceit,To Weep Once More,and Immortally Condemned...An awesome "comeback" cd,if you are any kind of Suffocation fan than this is highly recommended!!!

Compred to the competition this DESTROYS.Compared to their earlier material not as good.

Yes, Suffocation has returned to pummel the listener with yet another brutal attack on your senses. There is no room to breathe throughout the release of "Souls To Deny". It is totally relentless for the duration of the album. The riffs are brutal, the song writing is tight, and Frank's vocals fit in nicely. The production is practically top notch. I think this is the best production Suffocation has had on any of their other CD's yet. As far as the musicianship goes, it's not as technical as their previous two, "Pierced From Within" or Despise The Sun", but who needs to be technical when you make up for it in brutality? And Suffocation is almost as brutal as it gets. They are after all my favorite band, next to Aborted. This is definately a "must own" CD. I am so stoked to have them back on the scene. I hope that they will continue for a long time to come. STAY BRUTAL!! L8r

Having recently acquired this CD at Best Buy this Monday, I expected to be in for a surprise. And what do you know? The surprise flew in. I was so astonished pleasantly by the eight tracks of this album and it couldn't get any much better. Vocalist Frank Mullen sounds great here with his Death Metal grunting and the two guitarists make up for excellent riffing. Heck, even the drummer does superb, technical blastbeating in the songs. Standoffs of Souls To Deny are the opener Deceit, the title track, To Weep Once More, and the best song of this album (and also my personal favorite), Demise Of The Clone. However, the overall production of this album is unusually mediocre for an album released in 2004. But I am still not disappointed at music like this. This is music for the real fan and metalhead. So if you write a bad review on a band like this, you are an asinine poser who listens to crappy mallcore (nu-metal) music that is not even Metal.

Rock on, Suffocation!! \M/\M/

This is a very good death metal album. Pretty much just a retread of Pierced from Within. but that was a great death metal album, so I ain't complaining.(though plenty are...) Still, I find it pretty humorous that so many people are complaining about how classicist this album is.(as far as tech-death goes anyway) How dare they not rip-off the bands they influenced!!! Still, they're partially correct: old Suffocation was innovative, this isn't. However, there's a big difference between Suffocation and most of the newer bands: Suffocation writes better riffs. Way better, and they even use a thick, but relatively clear guitar tone, so you can actually hear them. Personally, I think Suffocation write some of the best riffs in any genre of metal. Extremely complex and weaving, but not so much they are senseless and formless. They even have a bit off melody every now and then. And they have that aforementioned guitar tone, which is heavy rather than just noisy, or so bassy that it's just a rumble. There aren't very many solos on this album, which is fine by me. Solos don't really fit in DM of this sort. The ones they play are pretty good though. A bit too squealy some of the time, but not nearly as bad as lots of other DM bands, in this respect. There is also some nice bass playing, which can be made out a lot more often than is typical of Death Metal. The drumming, while extremely techincally adept, obviously, doesn't really interest me all that much. It's hard to say why exactly. The fills aren't terribly interesting, which is a major problem for me. Also, Mullen's vox are kinda weak, imo. Most DM fans seem to love him, but he's never done much for me. They don't have much emotion most of the time, and sound kinda bored and monotonous. Vox tend not to matter much to me in metal, particularly in death metal, but they still could be better.

It's tough to pick out standout tracks as they aren't wildly different from one another. Endless riff and time changes, crushing breakdowns and all that good stuff. It's all very good death metal, even if it isn't innovative. The opener Deceit is probably the best track. The main riff is very memorable, but extremely brutal as well. To Weep Once More and the title track both actually have fairly memorable choruses, though they are repeated a bit too much. Still very strong tracks, however. Demise of the Clone is probably the second best track, which is held together by the striking, shrieking trem line that emerges above the rest of the track every now and then, and some of the stronger vox on the album. A first-rate DM song by any measure.

Not much else to say here. It's hard to imagine why anyone who likes DM wouldn't liek this, though I certainly seems that plenty aren't terribly excited by it, which I can understand. But I likes it.

For a long time, the only death metal I listened to was Six Feet Under. To an extent I'd also listened to other bands (Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel), but only through one album from each (and at that, they were the debuts, which were very rough around the edges and very different from how each band would eventually sound). However, after a while, I lost interest in death metal. This was especially so after discovering the power and majesty of straight-edge metal bands such as Iced Earth, the experimental nature of progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater, and the dark beauty of melodeath bands like Soilwork and the great Opeth. Regular death metal just wasn't cutting it. It was too loud, too noisy, and too dissonant to compare to the more sleek aforementioned bands, as well as others. Basically, death metal became boring to me...that is, until I discovered guys like Cryptopsy, DOMINATION-era Morbid Angel, and through this album, Suffocation.

All the classic elements of death metal are here: the grunting, Cookie-Monster-with-laryngitis vocals, the ultra-fast thrash guitar riffs, the pounding double-bass and blast-beats of snare and tom (and a steady rumble of bass somewhere in the mix). The lyrics are filled with hatred, fury, but not always obscenity (I'll get to that later). So why is this death metal any better than that of the other stuff I'd heard? Good songwriting, and unique talent!

The songs are fast and furious, yes, but they have a real INTELLIGENCE behind them; the instrumentation is very tight and well-written and -performed. The lyrics are not always talking about the gross (no pun intended) details of gruesome deaths and necrophilia; rather, they cover a wide variety of subjects. Take "Deciet," about the end of a nine-year (yes, they're that specific) friendship. Or "To Weep Once More," about the horrible, horrible groups of child-molesting priests out in the world. Or "Subconsciously Enslaved," which brings up images of hypnotism and the feeling of loss of control by some Big Brother-like figure. This is, in itself, a great trait which separates Suffocation from their usual guts-and-gore-splatter peers; this band realizes that there are actually other subjects which are voiced well in death metal vocals (which, by the way, are especially ferocious and impressive).

The lead guitar lines (sadly uncredited in the notes) are also not too hammy, which is something else that the typical death metal band suffers. Often solos are included not for the sake of a good song, but for an excuse to shred - and more than sometimes very poorly. It becomes an ugly cacophony of dissonant noodling which more distracts the listener from the song rather than further pull them through it. This isn't the case here - Suffocation's solos are few and far between, yet always played within the proper boundaries of both time and tempo, rather than "suffocate" the song (okay, terrible joke, I know).

And finally, the drums are far more than just very fast double-bass kicking and blast-beats. Mike Smith has a very intellectual bit of talent in his feet, more than often creating unusual time signatures and interesting rhythms. This isn't to say he's the wrong kind of drummer for a death metal band; rather, his talents only increase the overall powerhouse juggernauts which are each song.

So in a nutshell, bands like Suffocation are what truly MATTER in the death metal community: intelligence, fury, and speed. Without sacrificing the least bit of relentless and gruesome power, and without venturing into pure cheesiness, Suffocation (and now with this album, SOULS TO DENY) proves that death metal CAN be good, after all.

Don't believe everything you read! Suffocation is one of the best death metal bands ever. I will admit that this one isnt as good as Breeding the Spawn, but it still has plenty of energy. If you aren't familer with this band, you should get acquinted with them very fast. Suffocation is pure death metal genius. Anyone who thinks Mikes drumming is annoying, is just a nit wit. HE is one of the best of the death metal drummers. I should warn that this isnt the album for everyone. Suffocation at times can be very difficult to get into. Some of thier music is how I like to describe it as "out there" Sometimes it is so fast and furious there is so much going on, it might come off as sloppy, but really everyone is in check. YOu just need to give it a few listens to grow on you. If you like old school death from the early 90's such as Deicide, Gorguts and Obituary, then this will be a treat for you. ONce again, dont listen to other nitwits half A** opinions. Suffocation is in no way an MTV band. Yes, they have a video, but it only plays on MTV 2, and thats only on Headbangers ball. They pioneered the death metal scene, and believe me they in no way sold out. I even emailed them, and they were nice enough to write back. Try that with Metallica...They charge you are fee just to get onto their fan site...Thats a sellout..Enjoy this one

I dont care what any one say...Suffocation is one of the best and most intelligent deathmetal bands, since they've began. I'll always support these guys. In the early 90's till now? I have always own all of their albums... Even the ep despise the sun and im very glad i support these genious.Now, suffocation's "souls to deny" is pretty much another masterpiece and who ever says otherwise? Is a poser and doesn't know great and technical deathmetal.

Wow, one of the best bands in deathmetal history and i own all of their albums which i wasn't sure if i would be into suffocation's " soul to deny" but turns out that they still got it and still brutal as ever. Truly amazing production and not a bit dissapoint or weak or mediocre at all. Higly recommended.