Effigy of the Forgotten

Effigy of the Forgotten is the debut full-length album by New York-based death metal band Suffocation, released in 1991. The cover artwork was created by Dan Seagrave. Several of the tracks had appeared on earlier releases: "Reincremation" and "Involuntary Slaughter" were re-recorded from the Reincremation demo, while "Infecting the Crypts", "Mass Obliteration", and "Jesus Wept" appeared originally on the Human Waste EP.

Effigy of the Forgotten
Studio album by Suffocation
Released	1991
Recorded	1991
Studio	Morrisound Recording, in Tampa, Florida
Genre	Technical death metal
Length	37:06
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Scott Burns
Suffocation chronology
Human Waste (1991) Effigy of the Forgotten (1991) Breeding the Spawn (1993)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Both this album and Pierced from Within have been re-released by Roadrunner Records as part of the Two from the Vault series.

The album was dedicated to the memory of fellow metal band Atheist's bassist Roger Patterson, who had been killed in a car crash earlier in 1991.

Musical style

Effigy of the Forgotten is considered to be a death metal album with a highly sophisticated level of technical proficiency. The guitars, which are tuned four halfsteps down from standard tuning feature fast palm muted riffing, tremolo picking as well as guitar solos. The drumming involves blast beats and quick fills.

The riff found in the hook of "Liege of Inveracity" is often regarded as the first slam riff in death metal, the riff in question would later inspire an entire new offshoot of death metal known as slam death metal.[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Liege of Inveracity"	Barohn	Hobbs, Cerrito	4:28
2.	"Effigy of the Forgotten"	Barohn	Hobbs, Cerrito, Barohn	3:47
3.	"Infecting the Crypts"	Cerrito	Hobbs, Cerrito, Barohn	4:45
4.	"Seeds of the Suffering"	Mullen	Hobbs, Cerrito	5:51
5.	"Habitual Infamy"	Cerrito	Hobbs, Cerrito	4:15
6.	"Reincremation"	Cerrito, Barohn	Cerrito, Smith	2:52
7.	"Mass Obliteration"	Smith, Barohn	Hobbs, Cerrito, Barohn	4:30
8.	"Involuntary Slaughter"	Mullen	Hobbs	3:00
9.	"Jesus Wept"	Barohn	Hobbs, Cerrito	3:38

Personnel

Suffocation

• Frank Mullen – vocals
• Terrance Hobbs – lead guitar
• Doug Cerrito – rhythm guitar
• Josh Barohn – bass
• Mike Smith – drums

Guest musician

• George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher – guest vocals on "Reincremation" and "Mass Obliteration."

Production

• Produced, engineered and mixed by Scott Burns
• Mastered by Eddy Schreyer

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Shteamer, Hank (November 19, 2018). "Farewell, Frank Mullen: Suffocation's Death-Metal Maestro Goes Out on Top". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 9, 2019.