Being-toward-death should constitute a motion of the hand toward authenticity, away from the poison of circumstance and complacency. The way in which we are thrown into the world does not naturally present any such option, not outside of random-generated instinct. In the long drowned realm of ‘Axis of Tortures‘ to attempt to suppress feelings of anxiety and dread would only serve the mind greater confinement as we consider their method of four-dimensional planar location of each person’s own metaphysical strife. On the spectrum of angst, dread and nihil Stockholm, Sweden-based funeral death/doom metal quartet Suffer Yourself weigh heavy with the nausea of classic forms on their fourth full-length album as they tread from torture to torture. The purpose of this emotional mapping exercise could be received as acknowledgement in hopes of gaining authenticity, actualizing one’s state(s) of mind and coming to terms with what Sartre would consider good faith use of one’s freedom, or, taking one step away from possession.

Suffer Yourself began as a solo project from Ukrainian musician Stanislav Govorukha circa 2011 while living in Poland, eventually moving to Sweden and completing the line-up to a reasonably steady quartet (bass guitar position was revolving until 2019) as they’d produced two full-length albums for now defunct Colorado-based black/extreme doom metal label Cimmerian Shade. Their sound wasn’t entirely typical but it’d not garnered a ton of attention beyond some small mention of 2016’s ‘Ectoplasm‘. A long silence preceded the transformative third full-length from the band (‘Rip Tide‘, 2021) which showed some keen revision of their aesthetic and ultimately produced a different sort of funeral death/doom metal sound as they’d began gearing towards the death/doom metal spectrum. The shorter nature of the album (an mLP by past standards) allowed them quicker, easier impact as they’d essentially demonstrated a lean into greater aggression. This was a fairly big transition for a band that’d defined themselves between two double LPs already yet the record was well-received (see: my generally favorable review) and this’d allowed them to tour around Europe for the first time. The green light to feed death into the machine had arrived and now we can extrapolate the results within a doubly long LP, ‘Axis of Tortures‘, which features four ~10-15 minute pieces on this four-dimensional hourlong honing upon the datum of existential dread.

Despair, pain, insanity and the slow drain of time felt upon the living husk are all naturally conveyed within funeral death/doom metal’s register throughout the ages and in the case of Suffer Yourself perhaps the lyrics are the next-most clear actor in setting the mind upon each planar point of temperament. The distant creep and infinite spaces of funeral doom atmosphere aren’t the majority emphasis, though, as ‘Axis of Tortures‘ is the most death metal forward release from the band in terms of sound design being centered around up front guitar rhythms and their sound featuring a rich collage of 90’s death/doom metal ideas be it the more eerie romanticist exploration in the first half of “Axis Despair” or the uproarious mood swings of of “Axis Insanity” as they peck away at more syncopated riffs and blasted-at transitions ~2:45 minutes in the 15+ minute opener. Rhythms creep slow, growl deep and keep things somewhat unpredictable beyond the Evoken inspired clean jangle of the guitars as the twist of the main rhythms are generally the main point of focus here, though there are wailing/dive-bombed leads here and there too.

The most molten event of the four pieces is probably “Axis Pain” thanks to its lumbering grind into view, the growl of the distorted bass beneath the main riff and how this earlier Krypts-sized rush eventually breaks and builds into a number of explosive, bestial actions which speak to Grave Miasma‘s most erratic surges (see: ~3:42 minute mark) as the song intermittently ignites. This cavernous death/doom metal sound impresses at the outset of this song though it drags on in the last third as some strange vocal choices and a somewhat bland couple of minutes spent on a mosh riff curb the excitement of the song slightly; The weirding edge of underground/demo-level funeral doom still permeates the drift of Suffer Yourself but to a lesser degree than it did on ‘Rip Tide‘ the growling expanse of “Axis Time” is one of their most effective leans in that direction to date and does a brilliant job of closing the album. The walk through this full hour was not an easy listen but getting there still manages to be engrossing, taxing in way that funeral death/doom metal should be without leaving too much dead air hanging.

Long and arduous, minimal in accoutrement yet expansive in its render ‘Axis of Tortures‘ is not a beautiful act but rather an elaborate and I suppose necessarily confrontational act which does well to thoroughly explore its proposed four degrees of dread. That said of course this may not be easy to prescribe as daily listening in terms of mood generation and despite the riffcraft having generally exceeded past work from the band. No doubt these songs will read heavier, more actively focused on the riff and in turn even more appropriate in a live setting and this shift towards aggression should effectively hold the attention of folks who’ve the necessary depressive mode and taste for death/doom. A moderately high recommendation.

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