Review by Daniel for Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam (2013)

New York brutal/technical death metal godfathers Suffocation have been my favourite band since way back in the mid-1990’s so when I finally returned to the metal scene from my decade-long sabbatical in 2009 I wasted no time at all in catching up on their three 2000’s albums with the quality ranging from pretty decent (2009’s “Blood Oath”) to very solid (2004’s “Souls To Deny”) to fucking superb (2006’s self-titled). I’d have to wait four more years until I’d hit another new Suffocation full-length in real time though so when 2013’s “Pinnacle of Bedlam” finally landed I got all hot & bothered & waxed lyrical about it to anyone that’d listen. It’s been quite a while since I revisited it though so I've been quite keen to reassess it, especially after awarding the self-titled album an impressive 4.5 star rating only a month or so back. To be open & transparent, I’ve long suspected that my initial five star rating for “Pinnacle of Bedlam” might have been a touch ambitious so a reassessment to firm up its positioning against an album of the undeniable strength of the self-titled was well overdue.

Now let’s get one thing straight right from the get-go, if you don’t like Suffocation’s previous work then this record isn’t going to do anything to change that as it’s very much an example of the bands signature sound. The difference here however is the stunning production job & polished performances which ooze of class & enable the listener to achieve maximum reward for the aural battering they’ve subjected themselves to. “Pinnacle of Bedlam” is everything that Suffocation aspire to be. It’s unwaveringly brutal although perhaps not as relentlessly blasting as some of their other works. It might be one of their more technical releases though as it sees the instrumentalists confidently & powerfully working their way through a string of ambitiously structured riffs that will no doubt see your average extreme metal fan bowing down in worship of the greatest brutal death metal band of all. I’d also suggest that this might be one of Suffocation’s most melodic releases with guitarists Terence Hobbs (Criminal Element/Deprecated) & Guy Marchais (Internal Bleeding/Pyrexia) & bassist Derek Boyer (Criminal Element/Decrepit Birth/Deprecated) working their way through some quite challenging & angular runs & harmonies while returning skinsman Dave Culross (Malevolent Creation) completes a flawless example of high-precision extreme metal drumming. Legendary front man Frank Mullen doesn’t let the team down either with a stellar display of how to create monstrous yet still completely intelligible death metal grunting. He’s certainly one of the all-time greats in his field for mine.

“Pinnacle of Bedlam” gets off to a magnificent start through “Cycle of Suffering” & “Purgatorial Punishment” which are classic Suffocation tunes if I’ve ever heard them but I’m afraid the tracklisting doesn’t stay at that level consistently enough to warrant full marks if I’m being honest. Album highlight “Rapture of Revocation” is right up there with the bands very best work & “Sullen Days”, “Inversion” & the title track aren’t far behind it either but then we also see a few less-inspired hardcore riffs & slightly lethargic beats seeping into songs like “Eminent Wrath” “As Grace Descends” & “My Demise” which leaves them struggling to overcome the “very solid filler track” tag. The re-recorded version of “Beginning of Sorrow” is equally solid but doesn’t add a lot to the album from a creative point of view in my opinion, despite being an improvement on the already reasonably enjoyable original that opened 1993’s “Breeding The Spawn” sophomore album. I mean, there’s nothing that I’d rate as any less than four stars included here as this is an undeniably classy death metal record but I’m not sure that it challenges the elite of the elite. In saying that though, I do still rate it just slightly ahead of the massively underrated self-titled album which puts it right up there with my favourite releases of the decade. If you’re a fan of bands like Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy & Nile then you owe it to yourself to indulge in this wonderful example of the genre leaders flexing their muscles. "Pinnacle of Bedlam" is yet another classic release from my favourite band of all time.