Florida and New York commonly are the first two regions that roll off of the tongue when speaking about United States Death Metal hot beds, but the mid west has had numerous notable acts throughout history; from Broken Hope to Embalmer to Gorgasm, the midwest has always had a very unique take on Death Metal that I personally enjoy; riff forward, no frills, and normally very dark, real life subject matter. I am happy to report that the mid west has birthed yet again another incredible Death Metal record with Protrusion’s ‘The Last Suppuration’.
Though I can comfortably say that this album, like many modern Death Metal or adjacent bands, certainly wears its influences on its shoulders, it operates in a different creative space than most of its peers that have come out in the last 5 years. Rather than fly at the same low cruising altitude that most slam, Incantation/Entombed/(dare I say it….yes, I do) Eternal Suffering clones that have flooded the Death Metal market do, the Lafayette, Indiana 4 piece expands their horizons and gives themselves MUCH more room to operate by leveraging the same set of sharp, yet primitive Death Metal weapons that forefathers in Gorguts, Pestilence and others of the like do. Elements of demo era Mortal Decay and Demilich also creep their way into the band’s sound. Protrusion may be a newer name on the block, but features current and ex members of names like Gorgasm, Horrific Demise and Human Filleted. This is a real-deal, corn-fed midwest USA death metal band through and through.
The real beauty of this whole release is the dual guitar work and the exchange that it and the vocals have. While I am admittedly NOT a “frog vocal” fan, when the burps start, the guitars take a back seat and rely on big chords and rung out notes to let lead frog Colin Foster gurgle away. When Colin finishes spewing his swampy sermon, the guitars often gracefully jump into reverb & delay laden guitar solos that would certainly make any of the early Death Metal greats proud, or into a crushing palm muted riff that slowly crawls up and down the lower portion of the guitar neck.
There’s plenty to chew into here; whether it be the bouncier grooves that connect atmospheric solos and vocal passages, the double time skip beats or the full and rich Morrisound leaning production (courtesy of Tony Tipton, ex Regurgitation), The Last Suppuration is surely going to top many “TRVE” Death Metal fans’ year end lists for its sheer sonic strength, catchiness and length to keep coming back to.
This is a band to watch…and a Death Metal Unc nod to the Sevared Records team from X for once again delivering another crushing release.
