Beats and yelling: Protrusion

The Last Suppuration
Out 13^th March on Extremely Rotten Productions/Unholy Domain/Sevared Records

Protrusion punt for a mix of early 90s Floridian death metal and early Gorguts (who were to be fair, also a Morrisound alumni). This results in a pleasingly authentic rerun of percussive death metal as it augments the choppier elements of thrash into a richer stew of longform riffing, allowing the rhythm to determine the phrasing and cadences in lieu of traditional melodies. The latter of which, when they do emerge, achieve the gothic grandeur of ‘Considered Dead’ if Gorguts were clubbed over the head, going about this by more direct, somewhat obvious means. The effect still displays a competence and knowledge of the source material orders of magnitude above their peers. 

The production could easily be the work of Scott Burns. Sharp, staccato bass trills cut through the fog of guitars with aplomb, sharpening an additional rhythmic dimension alongside the drums. The latter of which take a more subservient role. The lack of stylistic flair creates space for a rock solid foundation to take command, unflashy yet entirely appropriate for what’s required. Whilst drumming creativity isn’t lacking, one gets the sense that some sacrifice was made on the part of the performance for the betterment of the overall picture. The result is an oddly empty, stumbling, tension that pervades every inch of the album. A degree of implication that comes from underplaying, and an element sorely lacking in many contemporary releases. The guitar tone is refreshingly generic, and really does feel “of” the old school rather than merely aping it. A swirling, catch all distortion allowing for choppy runs as much as washed out atmospheric plunges alongside the open lead tone. Guttural vocals reminiscent of a young Frank Mullen complete the picture, providing the rhythmic aggression that is sometimes lacking in the guitars themselves.

Protrusion take the plodding pacing of slam as derived from a handful of riffs on Suffocation’s debut and elevates it to a place of disconcerting hesitancy. The rhythm section forever gesturing toward confident, driving tempos are somehow tempered by guitar lines with more regal ambitions in mind. Riffs pay lip service to the atonal energy of brutality, but seem far more interesting in injecting the mix with gracefully dark tones that speak of classical horror. Solos make literal what is merely implied by these riff forms, as they tend to fall back on traditional, minor key melodic patterns as if to emphasise a certain melodramatic flair, bordering on the tragedian.

The resulting album, for all its derivations on past forms, reasserts the importance of architecture in death metal. Not just from a structural perspective, but the feeling that there is real meat on these bones, an immersive world opens up before the listener, allowing them to wander through its many corridors and find something new with each repeated cycle. This, more than rank nostalgia, is the real reason we return to the classics time and again. They embody a size and substance too often lacking in materially denser modern equivalents. Whilst Protrusion are only capable of replicating this feeling, this in itself is impressive enough, and refreshing to encounter in 2026.