Suiru is a frantic and energetic burst of noise from hardcore trio Dogs For Breakfast. It combines raw power and presence into an appealing package that quenches the thirst for heavy-hitting music.
Release date: October 4, 2019 | Overdrive Records/Wooaaargh Records/Mothership Records/Shove Records/U’A! | Facebook | Bandcamp
It’s always interesting to me to discover new artists. The whole concept of wading through the plethora of music out there can be a daunting task, with plenty of offerings ultimately coming up average. So when something exciting and genuinely enjoyable comes along, I tend to cling to it. Enter Italian sludge rockers Dogs For Breakfast, and their latest record Suiru. The album is their second full-length outing, and the most recent since a split release with Bologna Violenta in April 2015. When it comes to deconstructing this newest work, there really is no reason to beat about the bush – Suiru takes no prisoners from the moment it starts.
A strong opening title track fires on all cylinders, grabbing you instantly with a grungy cacophony that showcases a tight synergy within the band. This allows them to execute “Suiru” – as both a track and an album – to devastating effect. Dogs For Breakfast also capture a variety of influences within their music – predominantly a sizable sense of early Mastodon (think Remission without a lot of the decorative guitar work). Its distortion is overseen by equally visceral vocals, which match the rest of the album’s tone perfectly.
As you move through tracks, each one offers another slice of chaos. “Dreaming of Hell, Living Reality”, “Running in Vain”, and “Ravening Wolf” portray the unhinged orchestration of these three talented musicians, all supported by intense vocal work. Personally, as fantastic and well-delivered as the vocals are in their own right, it’s the mayhem of the music that steals the limelight here. The drums for me are the standout performance. While all duties are performed incredibly well in conveying the anger and vibrancy of Dogs For Breakfast’s sound, Andrea Peracchia’s stick work is so technically proficient and utterly commanding – doing damage as he stampedes his way through seven of the eight songs on offer on Suiru.
One track untouched by the carnage is “Corde”, providing respite with its monotone footings and the soothing sound of rainfall. Its shelter is merely a passing shower, though – and once it passes, the deafening deluge that awaits wastes no time in drenching you once again.
“Last Sunny Days” begins with a chaotic drum section that left me craving the classic Converge track “Eagles Become Vultures” – an onslaught of percussion that batters you senseless before the rest of the song finishes you off. The difference here is that Dogs For Breakfast have a little more groove to their game. Here is a group who came to do a job, and do it as loudly and disruptively as possible; without it being completely at the expense of tunefulness.
The final track, “At The Gallows”, is a dissonant affair. Ringing discord and thunderous clashes of cymbal give rise to a lumbering behemoth of a song: the soundtrack of a destructive entity bearing down on its prey. The longest of the record’s roster, it’s a fitting end to a powerful experience whose only downfall is its playfulness with tones. Suiru is many wonderful things, but experimental in sound within itself is not particularly one of them.
That being said, Suiru is still a relentless, crushing album that almost struggles to bear the weight of its own heaviness. Tonal variety may be scarce across the eight tracks, but make no mistake – give Suiru more than a couple of spins, and its songs will begin to embed themselves in your mind with their punishing energy and pummeling chords.
