Live in North America

First it might be important to note that this entire CD is recorded at a single concert in Boston on Oct 22nd, 2018, and I was at this concert myself. I can vouch that what is captured on this CD is very much what happened live, there is no evidence of overdubbing or trying to patch anything after-the-fact. This was the last tour with Frank Mullen on vocals, I have seen Suffocation multiple times live but this concert was the only time I've seen them with Frank Mullen. His performance found on the recording shows why he is the best vocalist Suffocation could have ever had, not to rag on the new guys who also do a great job. Frank sounds exactly the same as he did when recording legendary albums such as "Pierced from Within" and "Effigy of the Forgotten". The ONLY downside is that Frank cups the mic live, which sometimes can make his lines sound muffled and you can't tell as much of what he is saying.

The performance by the band is just absolutely perfect. Not a single instrument misses a note through all 13 tracks. To take into consideration how technical Suffocation is as well, its makes you believe they're not even human to be able to pull off such a performance. The production is top notch. I know a lot of people love the "rawness" of old school death metal albums such as "Effigy of the Forgotten", but I personally hate how muddy that album is. It's nice hearing songs off that album in such high quality, but not in a way where they feel sterile. You can easily make out the riffs that the guitars are playing. As you can expect from bassist Derek Boyer, everything he plays cuts perfectly through the mix, and it sounds like bones snapping. The drums sounds like they are played by the same people who originally wrote the songs such as Mike Smith or Doug Bohn.

This recording features nearly all of Suffocation's best tracks off of various albums. I love all the original albums, but I would actually recommend this specific CD or Pierced from Within to anybody who has yet to get into Suffocation, unless they are really a sucker for '90s production. Like mentioned before, the only reason I cannot give this a perfect %100 is because Frank cups the mic. Other than that, the setlist is basically perfect, the performance of each band member is perfect, and the quality sounds as if it where recorded in a studio, with the added dimension of hearing a crowd and feeling like you're actually at a concert. This really gets me amped to see Suffocation again live, even if it is without Frank Mullen.