Review Summary: The fine line between progression and regression
We all know the story concerning the death of Mitch Lucker, former vocalist of the deathcore band Suicide Silence. Immaterial of whether you believe that one selfish act of ignorance led to his death, or it was simply a tragic accident, or both, the irrefutable fact is that Mitch’s death left an enormous impression on the band.
In due time, Herman “Eddie” Hermina was the man who would boldly take over the microphone for Suicide Silence. 2014’s
“You Can’t Stop Me” was the first album to feature the new singer and he proved his worth, maintaining his guttural vocals from All Shall Perish while adapting them to Suicide Silence’s screeching charisma. However, the biggest problem with the album was that it sounded incredibly repetitive and essentially fell into the void of ‘just another [insert band name] album’. Now in 2017, Suicide Silence has stated an earnest endeavour to alter their style for their new self-titled album rather than repeat themselves over.
There appeared to be a genuine outrage when everyone reached the 01:01 mark of the first single, ‘Doris’, to be released from the album. This moment marks the point where Suicide Silence presents their new musical trajectory. Sadly, the clean vocal cries that Hermina whimpers at this point sound painfully pitiful. His clean vocals take more precedence in tracks such as ‘Run’, ‘The Zero’ and ‘Conformity’. The latter actually distinguishes itself as the closest thing Suicide Silence comes to creating a ballad- complete with acoustic guitars, whining lyrics and twinkling melodies. -Any band who aims to progress their sound are worth of applause, but when the progression is executed in this manner, the reception is nothing but utter bewilderment.
The newfound, yet ironically outdated, nu metal influence is present in the instrumentation as well as the singing. The guitars in ‘Dying in a Red Room’ have a warped, crackling quality to them. However, not in the cool, heavily distorted ‘Here to Stay’ kind of crackle; more like the sound of a wasp-stuck-in-a-jar. Various, scratching and uncomfortable interludes which embody the edgy characteristics of nu-metal become a major piece of the
”Suicide Silence“ puzzle, rather than just a minor element. ‘Silence’ and ‘Listen’ are the main culprits of this effect where bending guitars and ebbing electronics glide around in a directionless route. Presumably, this is to present an aura of suspense and isolation, but the only thing it achieves is irritation, especially as Eddie incessantly whispers the word “listen” during the latter.
Focusing solely on this album alone, rather than recalling this band’s career as a go-to deathcore band, does not make this album any better. The main issue is that they’ve attempted to mix two genres together and failed to realise that they clash horribly. During ‘Hold Me Up, Hold Me Down’ there is a constant battle between nu-metal and deathcore. Filled with unexciting Korn-y riffs, Eddie squeals his most incomprehensible pig squeals to date at the end of the song and consequently, this extreme clash yields nothing but a catastrophic failure. The aforementioned ‘Listen’ is another example of this cross-contamination of genres as it relies on a schizophrenic eeriness, reminiscent of early Slipknot, which blends badly with the preceding stomp of Mark Heylmun and Chris Garza’s riffs.
Overall, there aren’t many aspects that defend this album’s ambition, (even the artwork is insipid) other than the fact it isn’t as scandalous as some overreacting fans will make it sound. The genuine reason why people won’t like this album isn’t purely because it’s such a dramatic change from Suicide Silence’s usual style; people won’t like this album simply because it is full of bad music.
