Review: “Suicide Silence” by Suicide Silence

Eighteen Visions did it with their self titled album. Throwdown did it with “Deathless”. Now Suicide Silence have done it with their self titled album. What have they done? They’ve put out an album that they wanted to make, that comes from the heart but that most importantly is a massive style shift away from what their core sound is and what their fanbase expect from them. That’s what the hate towards this album is about. It’s about the style change. They could have taken some baby steps and put out one or two songs in the new style on the album and got no heat for it at all. But they went all out and challenged the fan base.

Forget the past for a moment. Pretend that Suicide Silence didn’t exist before this album. What we have here is an art-metal album. It’s low-fi production value from Ross Robinson helps to give it a KoRn meets Deftones vibe and to be honest if it was put out by either of those bands or even someone like Dillinger Escape Plan then it would be getting a lot more positivity towards it. It’s a very long way from a Deathcore album. It’s not just the clean vocals. It’s the whole thing. Guitars, bass, drums. The works.

You could be mistaken in thinking that with just 9 tracks the album would be short. Actually it clocks in close to the 45 minute mark with the tracks coming in between 4:30 and 6 minutes. It opens up with “Doris” which serves as an introduction to the overall feel of the album. Raw production that makes the band sound like they are playing for shits and giggles in their Mom’s Garage while giving the guitars a live feel that is very organic. Both lyrically and in vocal delivery the song sounds like it belongs on an “Around The Fur” era Deftones album. “Silence” takes a more vocally restrained approach, the less-is-more vibe being a theme throughout the album. It’s also a very art-metal piece, that brings Mike Patton to mind. “Listen” is more of the same stylistically but has more Nu-Metal to the lyrics. At this point the tone seems to be set for the album, but then “Dying in a Red Room” delivers more on the melodic vocals which was one of the things that sent fans into meltdown. Some critics have even said that Eddie Hermaida’s vocals are poor throughout the album – I beg to differ. They are raw and different to his usual delivery but there is nothting wrong with them per say – they are as intended. To that end, so is the album. It’s off-kilter, designed to make you feel ill at ease and yet capitvated and to that end it achieves it’s aim. “Hold Me Up, Hold Me Down” then introduces a driving riff and more of the heavier Deftones-esq elements that were showcased in earlier parts of the album. “Run” for me is the song that becomes a guilty pleasure on an album that is essentially the same. At the point at which the song has built up to what sounds like is going to be a heavy crescendo, instead it dials back into melody in a way in which on the first couple of spins you’ll cringe, but then it grows on you with time. “The Zero” then dials back into the dark atmospherics of some of the earlier tracks and borders on deranged. “Conformity” is probably the song that sounds most Mike Patton-esq while delivering the most straight up of messages. Closer “Don’t Be Careful You Might Hurt Yourself” is actually the shortest song on the album, a depiction of death.

As an album, I was was intrigued to hear what all the fuss was about and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. If I was a big Suicide Silence fan rather than the occasional listener then I would probably be more suprised by the changes. Question is will the band rush into the studio in 12 months time and record a new Deathcore album? Or will the next album continue in the same vein? A half way house album is also a possibility. But then if the album really tanks and the tour doesn’t sell will they get another chance? Suicide Silence are big enough of a band to come back with another album after this. The fans will still head to the shows knowing that only 2-3 new songs might actually make the live set. So Suicide Silence took a chance. They made a different record. It’s not what anyone expected – and that is what the hate is about. It may not be a great album, but it sure is a good one. [7/10]

Having seen them play live and play “Doris”, “Silence”, “Listen” and “Dying In A Red Room”, I can honestly say that the new material was well received by everyone at the show. The new material also fitted in really well with the older material…

Tracklisting

1. Doris
2. Silence
3. Listen
4. Dying In A Red Room
5. Hold Me Up, Hold Me Down
6. Run
7. The Zero
8. Conformity
9. Don’t Be Careful You Might Hurt Yourself

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