Suffering - Chaosatanas
Mort Productions
Black Metal
6 songs (28:57)
Release year: 2014
Suffering, Mort Productions
Reviewed by Goat

Featuring members of the perhaps better-known Besatt, Polish trio Suffering have been in existence since 2007 (so are very much a side project to Besatt, who are new to me but were formed in 1991!) yet Chaosatanas is their debut EP, the only other release a demo two years ago. Immediately kicking off with frantic blasting in opener Suicide for Satan, the band make it plain that they're not fucking around, as does the defiantly keyboardless old-school sound. It would be just another black metal release were it not for the interestingly varied drums, with lots of cymbal clashes to add flavour, and the more you listen the more it's clear that Suffering know what they're doing. The members' experience adds strength and power to the Satanic bluster, and a mid-track breakdown into a much slower pace proves they can do the atmospheric stuff as well, although the sheer coldness of the likes of Essence of Sin speaks for itself.

As is usual from this sort of music, variety is limited, but you do get slightly more memorable moments such as the fuzzy riffs of I Am the Existence, which build up in a strangely arresting way similar to earlier Drudkh, although it doesn't really head anywhere. Leviathan Rises slows the pace a little more at first, and closer Ofiara is the best song present, showing the band's grasp of black metal atmosphere perfectly and even approaching a weird sort of catchiness. This isn't a bad EP, but neither is it a brilliant one. Chaosatanas' main weakness is in its pedestrian sound – although it's improved by the band's experience, it doesn't do enough to mark itself as anything other than a competent first release. Suffering can do better, and no doubt will, but those with a taste for the old-school will enjoy this EP.

Killing Songs :
Suicide for Satan, I Am the Existence, Ofiara
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