Suppression (USA) - Spiritual Sepsis (2024)

 

The bass guitar is the black sheep of the standard rock band configuration. It’s a well-worn saw among rock musicians that the bass exists simply to fill in the audible frequencies not covered by the rest of the band. Bass is considered simple enough that anyone with a shred of musical acumen can pick it up in a pinch.

However, some musicians take its black sheep status as a challenge. Groups like Primus invert the usual bass/electric guitar dynamic, with Les Claypool’s lead bass augmented by Larry LaLonde’s adventurous guitar work. In extreme music, bands like Man is the Bastard, Geryon, the beloved Holy Grinder and others eschew electric guitar entirely, opting for bass, drums (and sometimes supporting noise electronics.)

The long-running grindcore band Suppression (formed in 1992) began with a more traditional rock band lineup, but has since paired down to being a bass and drums duo. Many recordings with this lineup have a blown-out, lo-fi noisegrind production style, slathering layers of feedback and noise on top of the performances of bassist/vocalist/noise musician Jason Hodges and drummer Ryan Parrish. The new LP Spiritual Sepsis sees the band performing with its typical ferocity, but with a production style that allows the skill inherent in the musicianship to shine through more clearly. Despite the increased fidelity, this record is still dripping wet with guitar tone, and nobody's going mistake it for a Gridlink album. It may, however, draw in some new fans who dismissed the Suppression on records like 2018's Placebo Reality as "just another noisegrind band."

Why is all of this important? Because Hodges and Parrish have chops. The bass playing is fleet and expressive, filled with loping stop-start timings and fretboard-exploring riffs. Similarly expansive, the drumming is as invested in textural tom and cymbal use as it is in mile-a-minute blastbeats. (Watch this drum-off against Dave Witte in a high school cafeteria for a demonstration of Parrish's skills.) The vocals are crisp, deftly switching from a high scream to vomitous or barking mids and down to the occasional growl. The noise is used as an accent when needed, punctuating key moments with a well-placed squall.

Tracks like "Estate" and "Neurotoxins" show off skronky quiet-loud dynamics, transitioning from contemplative riffing and drumming to straight-ahead blasting. "Cop Out" and "Infiltrate" roil with blistering grindviolence. The songs ebb and flow dynamically, but there's rarely a slow moment and virtually no cruft. The band's bass and drums configuration is used as an asset, not a limitation, as a way to streamline the proceedings.

Spiritual Sepsis is a confident, considered record and a highlight of the year so far. Listeners more likely to gravitate to an Iron Lung or Stimulant record than ones by Sete Star Sept or Holy Grinder should start giving Suppression their attention. It's not that they just started being a great band, because they've been great for years. Just that more people than ever may finally start to take notice.

Spiritual Sepsis is available from To Live a Lie Records' Bandcamp for digital download and webstore for black or white vinyl.