THE RECENTLY ADDED

Suicide Silence "Suicide Silence"


So it's finally out for the world to hear. After a few spins this album has Ross Robinson written all over it. Sure, you might think: "The guy produced it!" and the hints of Korn's self-titled and Slipknot's 1999 debut are smeared all over it. But unlike the studio time Jonathan Davis spent in 1993 and Corey Taylor in 1998, what torment does Eddie have to relinquish? 
     Robinson is a master in squeezing the pain from the vocalists, but Eddie's been in a few successful bands and has toured the world a dozen times over. It's obvious the catering and their accommodations have been well taken care of. They're not playing toilet seat venues eating aged cold cuts sleeping in trailers. They've managed to take their brand of metal to the heights of the scene. While Robinson's records were pure pain captured on disc and he managed to exploit the artistic element of those frontmen to accomplish works of art that have stood timeless over the last twenty years, his adaptation of Suicide Silence into the same model is severely disappointing. So that's the odd variable number one. But although Eddie is one of the biggest left turns on the album, the musicianship has also taken an interesting turn for the worst.
     It turns out that "Doris" is actually one of the strongest tracks on the album. The chugs in "Silence" and "Listen" are actually pretty effective and should stand out in a live environment. But on the record, the lingering verses that have flange and chorus effects that simmer behind a wet blanket of floating drum beats are laughable. "Dying In A Red Room" is an embarrassment of a song even for a band who's debuting their new single. While the beginning of "Run" may have the crowd "jump the fuck up," the rest of the verse is cringe worthy. The biggest elephant in the room: What is Alex doing on the drums with that hi hat?! The following track doesn't do anything that hasn't been covered by Lifer on their worthless album back in the height of Nu-Metal, and while we can certainly go track by track, it's really up to the individual to see if they can make it through this challenging listen. The album closes with a ballad that could've made the cut on a Tantric record and it's clear the band aspires to be an Avenged Sevenfold and possibly capture the crown of the festival headliner.
     It's one thing to change direction and try a new angle. We've seen Poison The Well and Thrice do it. Even Deftones banged a hard right on White Pony just a few years after Around The Fur. Those bands dropped the core into borderline folk territory and digital exploration. But what Suicide Silence has come up with here is just piss poor songwriting. Not for a deathcore band, but for any band really. 
     It's hard to tell whether this is necessary to listen to just for the exposure, but it's definitely not something you can share with friends to sell them on a new discovery. What stinks is that even when I went back and listened to the rest of the back catalogue, all of that started to sound stale as well. Could this album actually manage to tarnish the band's legacy?
     This is a really frustrating record, and as a long time fan, I'm not sure if nine songs are enough to walk away from the band completely, but this is definitely something that appeals to a different crowd, and even though we cover everything here, this is just not an effective record and Ross Robinson should be held accountable for his contributions to effectively guiding the band off a cliff.

1 comment

  1. Definitely a struggle to get through the whole album. Disappointed to say the least.

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