SUFFOCATION drummer Michael Smith spoke to Nonelouder recently about a number of topics including their upcoming album, Blood Oath. A few excerpts from the chat found here follow:

Nonelouder: How goes the recording of Blood Oath?

Smith: "We aren’t actually in the recording stage yet other than personal pre-production. We are in the concept/writing stage at this point. Which for us is good, we have a good focus as to what we want this release to be. We’ve started early enough to make certain no short cuts are taken."

Nonelouder: Why did you guys leave your last label and how goes the new label search?

Smith: "Our two album contract was complete. It was obvious that we had exhausted any ability Relapse had to further our efforts. Relapse are a good label for starter bands but they are a bit limited for Suffocation’s needs and standards at this point."

Nonelouder: How does Suffocation continue to avoid falling into the cliché traps of death metal when writing songs?

Smith: "By staying true to what we’ve been doing for 20 years. Never changing our original style or attitude towards the genre. We are definite fans of the music but we don’t listen to it for influence at all which keeps us focused."

Nonelouder: Why the title Blood Oath? Does it refer to your dedication to the band, to each other. Does it mean anything?

Smith: "In 1988 Suffocation formed and made a definite decision as to what the standard of our music and image would contain. Over 20 years and throughout multiple member changes, the main goal, precision, quality and outlook has remained the same, to stay original and hold standards that the genre will follow. At this point any release could be the last release, due to industry disregard, lack of interest, or musical quality burnout, we never know. I would expect that this album will contain all that Suffocation has created and influenced the genre with, so as to go out on the top of our game. This has been our approach and standard that we’ve kept throughout the 2 decades of Suffocation. I consider it the Blood Oath we took."