(written by Islander)
Three years ago we introduced the premiere of a Suffering Quota song with these words:
“Adjectives like ‘terrorizing’ and ‘explosive’ have tended to surround the music of the Dutch grindcore band Suffering Quota like swarms of angry hornets. Of course, sensations of fury and violence are endemic to a lot of grindcore, but adjectives like those don’t always come to mind as frequently as they do with this band.
“Yet those aspects of their music, while integral and vital to what they do, really aren’t all that sets them apart from a lot of their peers. What really sets them apart is the feeling that they’d get bored just blowing off the doors in listeners’ heads and wrecking the hell out of whatever’s inside. It’s got to be more interesting than that.”
We’ve repeated those words because they still hold true for the band’s new album Sisyphean Life, which will be released on September 25th by Tartarus Records in collaboration with 7 Degrees Records. We’re again in the fortunate position of proving the point with a premiere, this time a song from the new record named “Overpowering Weight” (and we have some thoughts about the album as a whole too).
The labels offer this preview of the album:
Conceptually inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus, the album reflects on the endless cycles that define modern existence. Much like the mythical king condemned to push a boulder uphill for eternity, Sisyphean Life explores recurring patterns of depression, monotony, and the perpetual search for fleeting moments of relief. There are no triumphant resolutions here, only the recognition that some struggles return again and again. Rather than offering escape, Suffering Quota transform that perpetual cycle into an overwhelming sonic experience, where repetition becomes both the subject and the method.
“Overpowering Weight” is the second single to be revealed from Sisyphean Life so far. The first one was “Head“, which the band have said “encapsulates everything the album is about”. It comes across as a spasm of violent fury. The drums are crazed yet meticulous. The shrill screamed vocals are traumatizing. The riffing maniacally boils and blares in agony. The bass feels like the approach of Shai Hulud deep beneath the shivering surface sands.
Suffering Quota drummer Martin explains about “Overpowering Weight” that “After the grindcore start, the powerviolence takes over to end with a heavy groove that slows down to a grinding halt”, and vocalist Gerald has stated: “The first part of the song captures the feeling of being cold and alone in a world that gives nothing back. As the song slows toward the end, that weight keeps building, pressing down harder and harder until it becomes unbearable.”
As you listen, it’s likely the drumming will pop your eyes wide open – it’s insanely fast and precise. Meanwhile, the riffing is a skull-scouring blizzard of sound — dense, vicious, and abrasive — and the vocals scorch like boiling acid. But the riffing also writhes and becomes bleak; the vocals ruinously howl; and the guitars both maniacally and desperately contort (you can feel the pressure building).
When the pace slows even further, the music dismally clangs, the weight finally increasing to the point when (as Gerald says) it becomes unbearable.
Both of these first two singles demonstrate how much Suffering Quota pack into their relatively brief compositions. They do this on the album’s other nine songs, too. Throughout Sisyphean Life, the music is explosive — the drumming astonishing, the riffing torrential, the bass plundering, and the vocals frighteningly intense as they incinerate and roar, but Suffering Quota also turn the dial in other directions as well.
They shift the riffing; they shift the pace; and they shift the moods. As they spin the dial the music moves from feelings of blown-out fury to dragging agony (“Slope” being a prime example of that), cold-eyed disgust, brute-force oppressiveness, and borderline despair (“Roll Back Down” seems to wail like a stricken siren).
“Change Course” abysmally heaves and moans before it erupts; “Again” is a violent convulsion, and so is “Torment” until it kicks into a gripping drum groove and then swarms and thunders; and “Striving” closes with phases of bleakness, crashing rage, and a grim final vocal sample backed by chill winds.
Sisyphean Life is available for pre-order now on vinyl LP, cassette tape, and digital formats, and for more info about the band and the album, check out the other locations linked below.
PRE-ORDER:
https://shop.tartarusrecords.com/product/suffering-quota-sisyphean-life/
https://sufferingquota.bandcamp.com/album/sisyphean-life
https://www.7degrees-records.de/shop/12-vinyl/s-12-vinyl/#cc-m-product-17052465724
https://7degreesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/7dr068-suffering-quota-sisyphean-life-lp
SUFFERING QUOTA:
https://www.facebook.com/suffferingquota
https://www.instagram.com/sufferingquota
https://sufferingquota.bandcamp.com