Formed in NY in 1988,SUFFOCATION's technical death metal style is influenced by grindcore. The band uses "outrageously guttural vocals with a bottom-heavy guitar foundation, blistering speed, unparalleled brutality and sophisticated sense of songwriting, complex time changes and lead and rhythm guitar acrobatics" and frequent breakdowns.
With their debut album, "Effigy of the Forgotten", SUFFOCATION rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for the genre for the 1990s, retaining their style after the reunion in 2003. Decibel Magazine stated: ""Effigy of the Forgotten" was a benchmark for extreme music, as it sacrificed neither virtuosity or brutality, becoming a signpost for thousands who were still contemplating how to incorporate scalar runs, rapid-fire palm-muting and hummingbird-wing-quick picking into riffs, while opening up rhythmic dimensions and the scope of the blast beat."
Blabbermouth.net described
SUFFOCATION as "
American death metal's most consistent and punishing standard-bearers" and their style as "
brutal death metal".
According to AllMusic, Mullen is one of the best vocalists in death metal.
Decibel Magazine stated: "One of SUFFOCATION’s trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: death core."
