review by: Roberto Martinelli

From the very first seconds of track one, "Through Deep Snow, Darkness Stalks the Hunters," and its black metal, wall of noise intro, I knew this CD was a keeper. This is the kind of awe inspiring, crippling sound that the cult geniuses Weakling specialized in. In fact, if I had to describe All is Suffering in one phrase, it might be "Weakling, if it were a punk/grind band."

But that's not really fair to All is Suffering, for they bring so much to the fold, from the aforementioned flavors to a some small but pronounced bits of Swedish melodic death, to crushing doom, to dark, ambient splendor. It should come as no surprise to hear that some of this group's favorite bands are Bolt Thrower, Celtic Frost, Repulsion, Bestial Warlust, Discharge and Motorhead, for you've certainly got the best elements of all those unique styles. At the forefront is a vocalist that screams his head off in a style that excellently blends the best of black metal and hardcore. Behind him are musicians that deliver such intensity and precision in their performance of the passionate music that they've written, that even on the fifth time through the CD I find myself having to stop and be totally gripped by the outpouring of energy that All is Suffering produces.

And then the choir hits. A solid, melodic sound of deep, male voices arises, and my soul is brought to its knees. Here is one of the fundamental ways this album succeeds: it never gets tiresome, largely as it has a lot of contrasting flavors that never clash in the least. It all fits in to make this genius blend of all manner of extreme metal styles. The only thing even approaching a negative point about this CD is how sometimes the building energy of a song that happens to run over two tracks is cut when the track changes, giving the listener an unfortunate pause to come back to earth.

So, look, everything about this record is great: the sound, the riffs, the vocals, and that dark energy: sometimes it's blistering, some times it’s soft, sometimes it's crushing, sometimes it nearly induces tears…but it's always intense. Buy this album. (9.5/10)