Blood Oath

Suffocation’s sixth album, their debut for Nuclear Blast after three on Roadrunner and two on Relapse (who had also released their debut EP, Human Waste, way back in 1991), is a strong comeback after the relatively pedestrian self-titled album that preceded it. The production is dense but still clear; if you listen closely for Derek Boyer’s bass, you can hear it clanging and rattling in a postpunk style in the middle of the mix (and on “Provoking the Disturbed,” he gets a little intro passage all to himself). Mike Smith’s drums have the punching power of a drill press, and he plays with almost inhuman precision. The twin lead guitarists, Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, sound like they’ve constructed riffs out of the most dissonant sections of Slayer guitar solos, and Frank Mullen’s vocals sound like you’re being yelled at by a construction worker turned preacher.