Review Summary: Whether you're referring to Mitch or this album garnering any positive reception, Suicide Silence is dead out of luck.
Fans of California deathcore group Suicide Silence almost universally believed the group's best days were behind them when lead vocalist Mitch Lucker died in a motorcycle accident in November 2012. With All Shall Perish frontman Eddie Hermida fronting the group for their last album
You Can't Stop Me, it appeared as though the demise of the band had been prolonged. Or so we thought. While that album was actually the group's best to date, their eponymous fifth studio album is the literal killing of the band by their own hand and it's anything but silent in the forty four minutes it takes.
Lead off single "Doris" is in all seriousness, the worst metal song of the 21st century. Disregarding the fact it became the butt of social media's joke in the metal community, the song on its own merits is genuinely atrocious. Hermida's screams to begin the track are decent, but his notoriously bad moaned cleans in the chorus are the first of many indicators that the Suicide Silence of old is as dead as the vocalist who passed on four years ago. The instrumentals are Deftones-esque and while that's not a bad place to be, it doesn't fit the group based on their reputation for churning out middle of the road deathcore.
Follow up single "Silence" is a track that reeks of confusion and uncertainty among the band members. Hermida assaults the listener with another moaned chorus where his voice sounds atrocious and the group's instrumentals shift pace rapidly throughout the track's near five minute runtime. "Listen" features more of the same, while "Dying in a Red Room" sees a slimmer of effort behind the microphone from Hermida. Hermida is a talented vocalist, far more talented than Lucker ever as. But this album rarely if ever gives him a chance to prove this.
"Dying in a Red Room" reminds the listener that Hermida can sing. But it's a tough act to follow when the listener's ears have been raped by fourteen minutes of moaning and tee-hees. Even here, Hermida sounds lifeless and uninspired. Despite some audible bass from Dan Kenny, Alex Lopez sounds half asleep on drums and Mark Heylmun and Chris Garza's riffage is drowned out by Hermida's vocals.
"Run" follows the same blueprint for the most part. Despite opening with some uncleans from Hermida, he holds out the hoarse note too long, as if he's trying to hard to compensate for the fans of the band's heavier past work. Hermida believes 15 seconds of one hoarse scream excuses him for the annoyingly moaned cleans he haphazardly throws the listener's way. "Conformity" is arguably the best song on the album, but to even say that is not saying much. Hermida provides some decent cleans and passable screams, but the track clocks in at six minutes and bores the listener with strung out, if solid instrumentals.
This putrid album sees the group trying to do way too much for their own good. Track after track of nu metal ripoffs segue into begrudgingly performed metalcore tracks in a pisspoor attempt to compensate for the album's lack of cohesion and heaviness. Fans of the Suicide Silence we used to know will be so disappointed that it goes without saying. If you enjoy Deftones and Korn inspired nu metal, you may find some saving grace to this record. But it's a strung out mess that tries to kill too many birds with pebbles rather than stones. At times, trying too hard and at other times, trying far too little,
Suicide Silence is self referential and somewhat appropriately titled. Even if the record escapes with some positive reception, the collapse of this group is all but guaranteed.
