So This Is Suffering – Palace of the Pessimist (Review)

So This Is Suffering are a technical death metal/deathcore band from the US. This is their fourth album.

Palace of the Pessimist has a nicely heavy sound. So much so that you might be concerned about coming away from the album a lot flatter, a lot more squashed than you once were, so weighty is the band’s serrated assault. Oh, and you’ll be bleeding too.

The songs combine the technical dexterity and inherent extremity of technical death metal with deathcore influences. This results in tracks that frequently merge crushingly heavy breakdowns and huge, catchy riffs, with lightning-fast leads and blast beat nirvana. The band get this balance right for the most part, resulting in songs that have a good mix of instant gratification and replayability.

Occasionally the band also add a certain amount of atmospheric enhancement to the music, usually through some rather ethereal sounding leads and melodies. These parts aren’t the norm, but they’re frequent enough to add real value.

The singer growls, roars and screams his way through the music. He has a good voice that works well with the instruments so that his performance follows the album’s flow and pace.

Take a band like Thy Art Is Murder, add in a bit more technicality and complexity here and there, (Dying Fetus, maybe, as they’re a great example of technicality and brutality too), stir in a pinch of Fallujah and you have the base of what Palace of the Pessimist sounds like.

I very much enjoyed this. I like an album that can play fast and precise, but at the drop of hat can throw out some huge breakdowns and then move into a more atmospheric and emotive section. Oh yes.

Highly recommended.