Suffer Yourself, originally from Ukraine but now residing in Sweden, are a completely new proposition for me despite the band having already released three full lengths in the last decade. The bands moniker and album title for this fourth opus gives you an indication as to the sonic horror that awaits you on their latest album which has four colossal funeral doom/death metal constructions sandwiched between an intro and outro. It appears the band has created a conceptual ethos around the term axis as each main song is prefixed with the word ‘Axis’ and has various one word suffixes that typify what this band is about. After the short intro piece called ‘Enter The Axis’ the album begins with ‘Axis Insanity’ and immediately you are immersed in a claustrophobic and atramentous realm of dread filled guitar work and hideously morose sludge. The rigidly slow pacing gives the song a cloying miasmic aura, as the gentle guitar hook weaves its tormented horror around grisly vocals and that sense of drowning you with cavernous bass and oppressive drum work. The gradual escalation in intensity of the song after about three minutes threatens to hurtle the tune into oblivion before it eases back to unleash more monstrous vocals. There is an intrinsic macabre quality about the songs on this release as the opener blends one eerie hook after another and when the song smoothly fades into a more ambient sequence you are given some respite before it reasserts and goes through an amalgamation of melancholic dissonance and gruesome deathliness.

‘Axis Despair’ follows and uses a spoken vocal intro piece to conjure up a bleak desolate tone to the song. With the gentle strum of guitar the song effortlessly glides into funeral doom expansiveness as the vocals morph into a harsh almost blackened tone. At times tormented and wholly torturous in places the song harnesses the gruelling guitar riffage into a tapestry of contorted malevolence where every note and sinewy guitar hook is focused for maximum impact. Reading the lyrics is an ordeal in itself, their twisted distorted style conjuring up terrorising images as the song increases the pace slightly with an accompanying double kick segue that could even be classed as catchy to some degree.

There is a harrowing aura to this album that every song captures superbly, as the relatively shorter, ten minutes, of ‘Axis Pain’ starts with a short intro that quickly transforms into the desolating doom you expect. Again there is that sense the band is trying to submerge you into a sonic quagmire as the eerie guitar hook writhes around the deathly onslaught that quickly ensues with an accompanying blasted section. A chaotic structure is felt here too that seems to be careering the track into an abyss but is quickly focused as the song relents to leave it within familiar funeral doom territory. I particularly liked the guitar hook that is ingrained into the song here, it is hauntingly effective as the monstrously low vocal tone adds a layer of grotesquery to an already pulverising song that likes to alternate the battering blast phases with equally devastating slower sequences.

The main body of the album concludes with ‘Axis Time’ as here we get fifteen minutes of what this band does so well. I must admit I found the intro sequence a bit comedic with wailing ghostly noises you might hear on a children’s TV show but it is quickly batted aside when the band unleashes their end of the world sonic horror upon you. Like previous songs, the band likes to infest it with a myriad of hooks that pierce the mix as the songs ultra-slow tempo seems to lighten slightly to unveil a dissonant phase of guitar and metronomic cymbal taps. The switch to a death metal riff is accompanied by an increase in double kick which whilst brief almost acts like the signal to the next phase of the songs structure. An industrial vibe is heard at one point with clanging percussive elements blended to the deathly wrangling of the guitar work. The closer is quite distinct in some respects compared to the other songs, that sense the band is opting for a nightmarish assault can be clearly heard in the constant discordant guitar work which creates an unsettling feeling as the song progresses and pushes you towards its climactic horror before the outro piece. Even here the band does not let you rest as the outro is equally distraught even though it is only about a minute long and ensures you are left with indelible scars after experiencing this monumental slab of abhorrence.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/SufferYourself

https://sufferyourself.bandcamp.com/album/axis-of-tortures

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=5926