Everything I thought I'd lost from my late teens -- the giddy sensation of impossibly dense guitar and bass riffs thudding through overworked speakers, eardrums straining under the thunderous pulse of the kick drums, soul corrupting under the influence of remarkably lucid and psychotic lyrics filtered through the vocal chords of a demon -- came flooding back to me with this latest slab of death metal perfection. The production is a dream come true: the bass portraying the earthquake on which the unstable mind above struggles to grasp the eroded knife-edges of sanity, the jackhammer drums pounding oppressively against the inner walls of the skull, the choppy guitar riffs slicing through the cortex with devilish precision. However, as I reiterate time and time again in my reviews, melodic sensibility is what separates Suffocation from the competition. In songs like "Redemption" the melodicism is almost black metal-like in its abstraction, a macabre dance in the shadows of the mind.

The band consistently finds a language that really makes you think you're dealing with a bunch of schizo/psycho serial killers. People talk about the "devil's interval" being used pervasively in heavy metal -- well, Suffocation must use the "Dahmer interval", because there is something seriously deranged going on here. This sensation is enhanced by the often sprawling lyrical arrangement, which make Frank Mullen's vocal assaults so much more relentless and damaging. Such arrangements remind me strongly of the oft-overlooked _Breeding the Spawn_, and it was with great pleasure that I discovered the band had re-recorded "Prelude to Repulsion" as the final track on the new album, giving it the production such a classic track deserves. Furthermore, Mullen has allegedly promised that the band will re-record one _Breeding the Spawn_ track on each subsequent full-length album. So here's hoping they have another six CDs left in them.

The sterile cover art, superfluous logo and eponymous title didn't inspire me, but after just one listen to _Suffocation_ I felt compelled to review it. I did so in seven words and three numbers: "Suffocation - _Suffocation_ (2006): _Pierced From Within_ part two. 11/10". Obviously a genuine review requires verbal filler, not to mention numerous revisits to allow the initial orgasmic thrill to wear off. The original sentiment remains, however: this album stretches across the eleven-year chasm of scenewide mediocrity, filling it with flesh, blood and pulverized bone fragments, and the orgasmic thrill just won't go away. There is absolutely no fucking excuse for any brutal death metal aficionado not to pick up this gem when it comes out on September 19.