1. In it, the band sounds fundamentally different than on the previous four records.

2. The fans of the band are really pissed about the above fact.

There are a lot of questions that arise in this context: To what extent do bands owe it to their fans to deliver what is expected of them? Is the music that a band plays art, or is it more of a product? Is modern metal stuck in a spiral of predictable formulas and niche expectations? Doesn’t the scene need a kick in the nuts to restart it and make it interesting again? And if yes, where could that kick come from?

It is these questions that seem like the starting point, from which SUICIDE SILENCE have approached this record. The album is an attempt to break boundaries, escape from creative chains, and put the abovementioned arguments on the table. How good of a job it does at it is something else.

 

‘Suicide Silence’ does away with deathcore as you know it. Instead, the band goes for a nu-metal sound that combines the primal energy of Korn’s early material, the avant-grade approach of Deftones, and the chaotic delivery of Slipknot. You hear down tuned guitar riffs that take turns with leftfield melodies, clunky bass, drums that go off the rails at any moment, and vocals that veer from clean singing to tortured groans and guttural growls (the latter of which, they do the least).

 

Ross Robinson’s touch on the production is evident – the instrumentals are recorded live and the sound is deliberately raw, particular;y that of the vocals, which are free of any effects. Unlike many releases in this genre, ‘Suicide Silence’ sounds human.

Sometimes this works – like in opener ‘Doris’ and even better in ‘Silence.’ Sometimes it is a train wreck, as in ‘Listen’ – the song with the biggest disaster of a chorus that I have heard recently. By the middle of the album and ‘Hold Me Up, Hold Me Down,’ this new approach seems already exhausted. But the last thing this album is guilty of, is being one-dimensional.

 

‘Dying in a Red Room,’ for example, sounds like a Deftones outtake, and ‘Conformity’ is a borderline ballad with acoustic guitars and clean singing. ‘Don’t Be Careful You Might Hurt Yourself’ picks up the tempo at the end of the album and makes its message apparent: ‘Tell me it is okay to fail…’

It may sound like a preemptive apology. But is rather an invitation to support a greater mission. The goal of this album is not to be easy and pleasant to listen to. The contrary – it is made to challenge and provoke you. Which is one of the fundamental functions of any art. ‘Suicide Silence’ stands to remind you what art is in the first place and that it is made by human beings. To that end, the album does an outstanding job.

 

But it also seems like all the destructive energy has brought Suicide Silence only halfway through their journey. Their old musical world is in ruins but they still haven’t built a new, better one on top. The album captures a state of chaos. Because of that, the most interesting question it brings forward is what lies ahead for SUICIDE SILENCE?