Album bends the mind with raging noise

Black metal band Suffering Hour are known for their maddening music, which can be heard on their newest album The Cyclic Reckoning. Although there are only five songs on the record, the band does not fail to deliver impactful music. The instrumentation is great; the guitar playing from Josh “YhA” Raiken and Dylan “DgS” Haseltine fills the atmosphere with hard hitting sound, while the vocal performance from Haseltine is sweet due to how raspy and authoritative he sounds while singing the lyrics and the drum playing from Jason “IsN” Oberuc smacks the background with solid drum beats. If listeners want a tasteful experience of black metal music, The Cyclic Reckoning will satisfy their needs to hear bittersweet metal.

Opening track “Strongholds Of Awakening” is a strong tune with Haseltine’s bass guitar playing shaking the background with deep riffs. Right at the beginning of the song, the vibrations coming from the bass guitar can rattle listeners to their core, and what is likable about Haseltine’s playing is how fast each note is every time he plays a chord. “Strongholds Of Awakening” bleeds black metal with its bold bass guitar playing on this piece. 

Blazing “Transcending Antecedent Visions” gives listeners a chance to hear what Raiken is capable of while playing the guitar. Each guitar chord and riff lights up the composition with shattering noise. “Transcending Antecedent Visions” is a beautiful song due to how Raiken uses his guitar skills to create a mesmerizing sound of metal music.

Booming “The Abrasive Black Dust Part II” is a well-played piece. Oberuc’s drum playing brings more musical intensity with each beat. It is enjoyable to hear what kind of a drumming style Oberuc has because he is constantly playing on slow and then fast paced music tempos. In some ways, the clashing sound of the cymbals mixed in with the drum beats brings the feeling of what black metal music is all about. Oberuc’s drum playing on “ The Abrasive Black Dust Part II” is dynamic, and it can cause people to air drum while listening to this piece.

Crazy “Obscuration” is Haseltine’s best vocal performance on The Cyclic Reckoning because his vocals are filled with deep emotion. His vocal style is amazing by how he shrieks out the lyrics with his authoritative voice, and his low grumbles contributes to the havoc on this composition. Overall, his vocal performance on “Obscuration” is well done due to how he uses his voice to express his emotions.

The closing song “The Foundations of Servitude” is a tune that seems like it will never end, spanning 16 minutes, but it is worth listening to because of how well the band performs together. Haseltine and Raiken’s guitar playing shakes this composition with smashing guitar riffs that electrify the atmosphere with vein-shaking notes, Oberuc’s drum playing wages war in the background with thunderous drum beats and Haseltine’s vocals are intimidating by how low he sings the lyrics. Suffering Hour closed the album with a bang because the instrumentation and vocals bring power to this tune.

The Cyclic Reckoning is a great record that gives a punch of black metal, and Suffering Hour did a great job with creating an album that shows how much they have grown as a band.