SUFFOCATION: New Album Details Revealed

New York death metal veterans SUFFOCATION have set "The Pinnacle Of Bedlam" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in February/March 2013 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2009's "Blood Oath" will come with a bonus DVD, the details of which will be announced soon.

In a brand new interview with Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks! (see video below),SUFFOCATION bassist Derek Boyer stated about the band's upcoming CD, "We've been working on it for two years [and recording it for the last four weeks], working really hard to make sure that we compose a really tasteful album for the new and the old SUFFOCATION fans.

"With the modern recording technology, a lot of bands are taking the shortcut. We wanted to do it the old-fashioned way — make sure that everyone's happy with their performance.

"We're really happy with the content —the lyrical concepts and the musical compositions — so all in all, it's a very, very good record."

Regarding the title of the new SUFFOCATION CD, Boyer said, "It's a concept album based loosely on the 'Tibetan Book Of The Dead'. We didn't wanna just throw a bunch of different concepts, we wanted to try to work together as a band and write something that had a theme. And I think we're really in the right direction with this one."

He added, "It's always interesting when you record a record. If you're conscious, maybe you can channel the energy into a sole product where we're all, like, 'Let's just do whatever,' and it still comes out great. But we pretty much tried to hone it in and tried to work on a concept album. So it's really right."

"The Pinnacle Of Bedlam" will mark SUFFOCATION's first recording since the departure earlier in the year of drummer Mike Smith. He has since been replaced by Dave Culross, who previously played on the band's "Despise The Sun" CD.

"The circumstances and the timing worked out great," Boyer said about Dave's return to SUFFOCATION. "We're really fortunate. Dave is a great player and a really nice guy. And we kind of didn't skip a beat. And it's going great. We're really happy. We've done some European tours with him, a few American shows and now we're in the studio for the last four weeks."

On the topic of SUFFOCATION's relationship with Nuclear Blast Records, which the band first worked with on the aforementioned "Blood Oath" album, Boyer said, "They're great, man. They get behind you. A lot of the labels we worked with, and a lot of my friends worked with, you want to like the people and you also want them to be able to support you. You get a lot of labels that are, like, 'Oh, we love you so much, but we don't have the capital to put you out there where you need to be.' Nuclear Blast is just one of those really, really good labels that believes in us, we're great friends with them, and they have the potential to push us. So we're extremely happy with Nuclear Blast."

As previously reported, SUFFOCATION is among the inductees for this year's class of the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame. TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider will receive the Harry Chapin Award at the event, which will be held on October 18 at The Paramount in Huntington, New York. Snider will also perform selections from his "Dee Does Broadway" album.

Inductees are selected by the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame Board Of Directors from anevolving and growing list of people, artists, and entities that wereborn, raised, founded, or have resided on geographic Long Island (Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk) for a significant portion of theircareer. Induction is based on historical importance and thesignificance of their contribution to Long Island's rich musical heritage.