BLACKSCAPE - Suffocated By The Sun

BLACKSCAPE – Suffocated By The Sun
Release Date: 7th July 2023
Label: Massacre Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Thrash, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal.
FFO: Hatesphere, Darkane, Nightrage, Mercenary.
Review By: Mark Young

Right from the start, this one takes no time in impressing on you the command Blackscape have in setting the right balance between heaviness and melody and being able to build some superb songs. It was a joy to review, and I’ve not said that at the start in a long time. Everything within is just right, there’s not too much of one thing, or not enough of another.

Opening track, Waste of Humanity nails that emotional chord progression that raises the hairs on the arms as it runs to its end, having dropped some cracking riffs and a brilliant solo which is just on point. Bow to Me is cut from the same cloth, but possessing of some epic sounding guitar, backed up by some seriously strong vocals, courtesy of Lawrence Mackrory, and it just makes me smile because it’s so good.

They also avoid the ‘slow third song’ with title track, Suffocated by the Sun! An absolute barnstormer, and then followed up by the enthralling Enslaved, which will absolutely rule live.

Rather than try to wax lyrical about each song, I would simply suggest that you go and get hold of this because your ears will thank you for it. There is some top-class stuff on here that gives that melodic metal genre a good kick. When they open up it really flies and there is a clarity in the sound, so you get every little nuance on that first listen, but there is enough here to drag you back again for more. It achieves a high level and then just stays there, right through to the end and with this being their debut release, you hope that they can sustain this high watermark for future releases. Excellent!!