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Defecation Suffocation is the first full-length release by the Death Metal act Death Toll Rising, and, technically speaking, this isn't really a full-length effort. Defecation Suffocation is more like a combination of two EPs, the first six tracks being newly recorded material, and the latter three coming from the band's 2008 EP Spontaneous Decapitation. However, that doesn't really matter all that much, since this entire album is packed with intense straight forward Death Metal that cover the typical topics of death, baby murder, and suffocation by feces! While that last line, as well as the albums title being Defecation Suffocation, may make this album come off like a bit of a joke, it really isn't. The music on this release is well constructed Death Metal. Most of the material here is a mix of faster paced and mid-tempo paced music, leaning more to a faster element then anything. , but the guitars sound really deep and often just have simple riffs coming at you hard. Songs like "Visceral Remains" and "Defecation Suffocation" really do seem to prosper from it, as well as from the well paced drums that keep up with the music to drive the album home. Another great aspect to these songs is the vocal range. While the vocalist does prefer using a higher, rhaspier scream through many of the songs, he does manage to take it down to a very well done gutteral style, like in "The Bludgeoning", as well as many other moments through the album. The most impressive aspect of this comes from the title track, "Defecation Suffocation", when the music has built up to it's most intense moment and he really belts out some strong, menecing vocals that have the fiery tenacity of earlier Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth) without going into the high falsetto shriek. These also show through strong on the track "Babyslitter", which really shows the band at it's best with a very energetic performance and shines through as the best track off the release. The faster songs seem to almost always have a guitar solo, which, unfortunately for this release, doesn't quite work out as they sound a little empty or hollow, whichever term you would like to describe it. Something seems like it is just missing during it, such as the bass not really stepping up to fill the gap or something along those lines. While it doesn't really affect those songs, it just sounds a little odd, but luckily it's for a brief amount of time on a few tracks, except for "Babyslitter", which really makes the track just sound complete since it didn't need one, and there's no short hollow segment in the recording. You also have the song "Blood Stained Ceiling" which seems to juggle going from mid-tempo to simply slow. This track works for what it is. The deeper sounding guitars and usage of gutteral vocals manage to create a little bit of a haunting, desolate feeling when going slower, which really causes the song to stand out. Had the band not been able to work that kind of atmosphere into the song, it would ultimately have just flopped, but still falls just a bit short of impressive. Had the band managed to put in a little more intensity into the music, like they did for "The Bludgeoning". "The Bludgeoning" is another slower paced song which has moments that could very well fit as a chanting intro to a breakdown on a Metalcore song without actually going into it and sounds good when it's used to build up the music in the song. The track is a good song indeed, but ultimately the nearly six and a half minute track length starts to get dull and, when the music kicks up again after what you expect to be the end, really just feel drawn out and as if the ending of the song were tacked on. Luckily, this isn't the case for the new material closer "Transcenence Ritual". The new material is really where it's at for this release. While the last three songs on here are equally as impressive, they have been made available before and fans would already own these three songs and have had about two years to familiarize themselves with them. The quality of those tracks are a little lower, of course, and sound rather raw compared to the newer material recorded. These tracks actually benefit the new listeners because it gives a glimpse into where the band started, and that they are as equally impressive without fancy studio mechanics, as well as gives the listener an additional new three songs to listen to, which include two fast paced assaults ("Spontaneous Decapitation" and "The Empath") as well as a very impressive slower to mid paced track "Demon Rot" which is the only track that really does feature some studio editing to enhance the song, but it's only vocally for the sake of breathing. This additional was a nice touch and really just makes this already killer release even more important to own. If you haven't heard Death Toll Rising, then Defecation Suffocation is the perfect moment to discover this new and highly talented Death Metal act. |
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