Throughout the years, I’ve witnessed a lot of bands getting bashed for changing their sound, but very few to the degree SUICIDE SILENCE did. Having listened to the first two singles “Doris” and “Silence” I understand where it’s coming from. It’s a complete turn from what we were used to hear from them and, to be honest, I found that those songs were not really that good for what they were trying to be either. But “Suicide Silence” has 7 more songs that compile the album and deserve a fair chance. So is SUICIDE SILENCE’s fifth studio album all that bad?
First we have to get out of the way that, in order to appreciate this album (or any album that takes a 180° turn) and be fair to it, you have to approach like they are not the same band as 10 years ago, cause they are not. They just use the same name. Their music is a completely different result that is not even addressed to the fans of the deathcore genre anymore.
What’s in the album then? Well the first thing that stands out are the amazing screaming vocals. The vocals have a huge range from pig squeals and death metal lows to post hardcore screams, all delivered with great passion and theatricality. The cleans sometimes sound good, other times sound like they are trying to replicate a DEFTONES style that Eddie’s voice is not really cut out for. The musical style of “Suicide Silence” is alternative-nu metal. You can hear the KORN, DEFTONES, SEVENDUST and SLIPKNOT from the first two songs. As an individual who grew up and listened to the alternative-nu metal genre when it was on orgasm back in the early 00’s I can honestly say with confidence that SUICIDE SILENCE capture that feeling of sickness and drug intoxication pretty well. There are moments in the album that had me bored out of my mind, there are moments that had me singing along and moments where I felt I was listening to something out of “The Black Crown”. Some parts I wanted to skip but for the most part, I actually enjoyed myself listening to it.
“As many bad moments this album offers, there are also quite a few good surprises sprinkled on it.”
The band worked with legendary producer Ross Robinson (the person that discovered KORN, SLIPKNOT, GLASSJAW and LIMP BIZKIT among others) and the result is an album that sounds raw and unrefined in a good, nu-metal way, ending up sounding right on par with top-tier bands like LINKIN PARK or DEFTONES in their prime mix-wise.
So is “Suicide Silence” as bad as the internet will have you think? No, certainly not. The internet loves to hate stuff they don’t wanna hear and is very prone to the “angry mob justice-effect”. There are countless examples that prove this, but in all honestly I can’t recommend to everybody. If you expect sick ass deathcore with beastly vocals and dope, slammy-breakdowns you ain’t gonna find it here. Thankfully there are now more bands than ever that fulfil those credentials. But if you go into the album with no expectations, approach it like it’s a new band and you’re a fan of KORN, DEFTONES, SEVENDUST etc. then I honestly think you should check it out cause for as many bad moments this album offers, there are also quite a few good surprises sprinkled on it.