Early years (1989–1990) Suffocation was formed in 1989 in
Long Island,
New York, by vocalist
Frank Mullen, guitarists Guy Marchais and Todd German, bassist Josh Barohn, and a drummer whose name has not been disclosed. By 1990, the band had replaced their founding members with hired guitarists
Terrance Hobbs and Doug Cerrito along with drummer
Mike Smith, who were members of a local band called Mortuary, which had already disbanded. The quintet was mainly influenced by fellow American
death metal bands as well as Britain's
Napalm Death and Brazil's
Sepultura. Suffocation would be unique among the death metal community for featuring
African-American musicians in their lineup, with Smith commenting on meeting Hobbs for the first time: "That's where I first noticed, 'Wow, there's another black guy playing this kind of stuff.'" They signed a contract with
Relapse Records in 1990, becoming one of the first three bands to sign onto the newly founded label alongside
Incantation and
Deceased.
Human Waste and Effigy of the Forgotten (1991–1992) The band's first EP,
Human Waste, was released through Relapse Records in 1991. The first full-length debut album,
Effigy of the Forgotten, was recorded by producer
Scott Burns at
Morrisound Studios in
Tampa, Florida and released by
Roadrunner Records in 1991. The album took a week to produce, and was recorded on a budget of $5,000. Hobbs said of the experience, "To know that
Deicide,
Death,
Morbid Angel and all those bands were in that studio was a super amazing experience [...] Florida was a big thing; that was like our
Mecca. For us to go down to Morrisound, recording with Scott Burns, an amazing engineer, was just unbelievable." Though it initially received mixed reviews from critics, influencing the
technical death metal and
slam death metal genres. In 2004, the album was voted as the 342nd greatest metal album of all time in
Martin Popoff's book of
The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. In July 1991, founding bassist Josh Barohn left to join
Autopsy and was replaced by Chris Richards (ex Apparition/Sorrow). The band toured the US in 1992 and 1993 to support the album. One of the earliest tours included
Vader,
Dismember and
Defiance. On July 16, 1992, the band travelled to
Detroit, Michigan and played what was described as a "spot show" with
Brutal Truth,
Pungent Stench,
Incantation and
Exhorder. Terrance Hobbs recalled: "I think we got a lot of momentum by [going] out there to play. That’s why you saw us playing together all the time. We’d get brought out there all the time. We played a lot of gigs back then, but it was spotty. It wasn’t until ’96 that we really started to tour, but we broke up two years later."
Breeding the Spawn, Pierced from Within, and hiatus (1993–1995) In 1993, the sophomore album
Breeding the Spawn was released, its production and mixing being a key weak point that would be immediately harshly criticized. Originally, the band was due to return to Morrisound and record the album with Scott Burns, but Roadrunner was unwilling to fund the album properly and refused to pay for the studio time, forcing them to record elsewhere. After this album, drummer Mike Smith left the band, the situation with the recording process for this album being a major reason for him leaving the band, and was replaced by Doug Bohn. Tracks of
Breeding the Spawn would be re-recorded in future Suffocation releases. The 1995 release
Pierced from Within, which received better production than the previous release, was followed by extensive tours in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the United States. In 1998, Suffocation released the EP
Despise the Sun via Vulture Records and disbanded soon after. The EP was re-released later in 2000 and 2002 by Relapse Records. In 2008, the band signed to the German
Nuclear Blast Records and released their album
Blood Oath in 2009. In 2009, Relapse released the live album entitled
Close of a Chapter—Live in Québec City, that was previously self-released by the band in 2005. The release of a documentary film
Legacy of Violence was set for 2010, but has since been delayed. In May 2010, Suffocation toured with Napalm Death in South America and Mexico. In February 2012, Smith left the band again, to be replaced by the returning
Dave Culross. In 2012, the band was
inducted into the
Long Island Music Hall of Fame and released
Pinnacle of Bedlam in February 2013. Since after the release of
Pinnacle of Bedlam in 2013, vocalist
Frank Mullen announced that he will retire from full-time touring with the band due to his new job. He has since been replaced by various live vocal stand ins, including
Bill Robinson,
John Gallagher, Kevin Muller, and, currently,
Ricky Myers. In January 2015, Suffocation began making posts revealing that they were in the process of recording demos for a new album with a potential release date of late 2015. In April 2016, the ensemble toured with
Soulfly,
Abnormality,
Battlecross and
Lody Kong. In the spring of 2017 they supported
Morbid Angel on a US tour along with
Revocation and
Withered. The new album's name was revealed as
...Of the Dark Light and was released on June 9, 2017. Later in 2017, Kevin Muller, who had previously been a touring member, joined the band full-time alongside longtime vocalist
Frank Mullen leading the two to share vocal duties on the last album. He subsequently stepped down at the end of the year and was replaced by a returning Myers in 2018. On March 12, 2018, it was announced that Frank Mullen would do one more tour with Suffocation before officially retiring from the band. They were joined by
Cattle Decapitation and
Krisiun on this tour. Mullen would return in June 2019 for a final tour of Japan. On September 12, 2023, the band announced their ninth album,
Hymns from the Apocrypha, would be released on November 3. The album won the Album Of The Month designation at Metallian. The band began touring in support of the new release immediately. Suffocation toured Europe in the summer of 2025. Stops on the tour included festival dates such as
Brutal Assault and
Summer Breeze Open Air. They embarked on another tour of Europe with
Cradle of Filth late in the year. Suffocation was confirmed to be performing at the 2026
Sonic Temple music festival in
Columbus, Ohio. The band are also confirmed to be making an appearance at
Welcome to Rockville, which will take place in
Daytona Beach, Florida in May 2026. On April 10, 2026, after ten years as a member, drummer Eric Morotti announced his departure from Suffocation. Morotti stated on his Instagram: "Today. On my. Birthday. I have chosen to step away from Suffocation to prolong my health, myself. My integrity. I will not work with toxic. Abusive drug addicts. Let alone allow them to boss me around. I've been belittled and stepped all over for too long." While not directly addressing Morotti's departure, the band announced John Longstreth would perform as a "very special guest" for their forthcoming Spring 2026 tour the next day. ==Musical style, influences and legacy==