Review Summary: Suffocate for Fuck Sake roll out of the gate with a dense, adventurous album that's as emotionally stirring as it is interesting and lyrically spectacular.
As Suffocate for F
uck Sake tell the story of a girl's struggle to find the true definition of sanity and to realize the world around her for what it is, you see that they seemingly took knives to their chests, cut out their ventricles and put them on a nearby table so you could see them in their cynical glory. This sarcasm and their blunt approach to writing lyrics can come across as disarming at first, but this broad range of emotions on display is perhaps
Blazing Fires and Helicopters on the Front Page of the Newspaper. There's a War Going On and I'm Marching in Heavy Boots's greatest strength, as it makes it easy for the listeners to sit there and recognize all the emotional targets that Suffocate for F
uck Sake aim for in their approach to music. They aim for your heartstrings and they succeed. These heart strings are cut off like sinews when the band begins to build tension with their instruments and melodies and they deliver that sweet blow of melancholy at the climax. Later they force you to recall times where you've stumbled upon the true nature of things and people. A female voice declares on "Japanese Flag": "
We were going to meet once, at a café in Gotgatan, and you came with thirty shopping bags,/ took out everything you bought to show the whole café./You had some ex sitting there and naturally you didn't even care that his new girlfriend was with him./You were just so full of yourself./You showed no respect." Lyrics about such simple topics rarely sound so believable while retaining laconic cynicism and an intelligent restraint - subtlety. Worry is then brought into the lyrical scheme on "I Got Worried... I Was So Freaking Scared of That Window, You Know?" with lines like "
Then we started fighting./Yes, it was terrible./You ran back into the kitchen and was about to open the other window./The fridge just about fell on us, but in some mysterious way I managed to hold you down and dial 911..." The frighteningly austere delivery only heighten the atmosphere and therefore it magnifies the effect of
Blazing Fires's ability to touch upon all facets of life.
But then again what else could you expect from a well-written story about a female protagonist's venture inside the world of mental institutions, psychologists and mental illnesses when it reads so much like a biography? Sentences are terse, language is snide, and the writing itself is so cinematic. Already the impact on the listener is larger-than-life, but the music acts as a metaphorical magnifying glass to the caustic subject matter. Melodies range from delicate guitar chords to blustering dissonance, and climaxes are built in unexpected ways from both. Such traits ring true on "I Got Worried... I Was So Freaking Scared of That Window, You Know?" begins with spoken word that segues into a brooding passage with cathartic croons and catchy guitar lines before erupting into a cavalcade of droning guitar noise. Later, listeners touch their hands to gorgeous, retrospective post-rock with the seventeen-and-a-half minute long "Twenty-Six and Full of Plans," which is a dense-as-f
uck culmination of shimmering guitars, lamenting keys and haunting spoken word. However, this track, nay all the tracks on
Blazing Fires... avoid falling into the narrow confines of post-rock by seamlessly integrating elements of post-metal, emo and ambience into their preexisting sound. These again only augment the earth-shattering climaxes and diversify the tracks from the rest of an oh-so-very-stale scene.
But what's really interesting about this album is that the music reflects the lyrics because they both cover a wide array of emotions. Ambience and spoken word for the calmer and more retrospective moments in the protagonist's life. Lagging post-rock for those moments that build and build before exploding into some fascinating conclusion where characters stab each other in the backs, guitars duel with each other, vocals float away and dynamics become a necessity. It's utterly engrossing and a completely brilliant way to express both good, bad, chaotic and calm - in essence, life in all its trials, tribulations, successes and failures. This all portrays Suffocate for *** Sake as a very aware and ambitious musical group with tons of interesting musical ideas in their minds just waiting to be penned on paper again. Hopefully, it will be executed so that it's just as emotionally stirring, profound and beautiful as it is here.
