Suicide Silence - Remember... You Must Die (Album Review)
Suicide Silence - Remember... You Must DieReleased: March 10, 2023
Line Up:
Hernan “Eddie” Hermida // VocalsMark Heylmun // GuitarsChris Garza // GuitarsDan Kenny // BassErnie Iniguez // Drums
Suicide Silence online:
A band that was on the bleeding edge of the-then brand new deathcore sound, Riverside, California’s Suicide Silence have released a couple of certified classics - but have also been the victims of tragedy, missteps and misfortune. With their career almost derailed by their nu-metal aping 2017 self-titled LP, the five-piece began to correct ship with it’s follow up Become The Hunter by ditching almost all of the, frankly, below-average Korn and Deftones’ sounding aspects.
Doubling down on this concerted effort to return to their roots, Suicide Silence have gone all or nothing on their newest album Remember… You Must Die. An unashamedly late 00’s sounding deathcore release, there is definitely an air of familiarity throughout - nostalgia can be a hell of a drug. However, it only seems fair that the one of the OGs of the style are the ones to revisit it. ‘The Third Death’, ‘Dying Life’ and the knockout opener ‘Remember…/You Must Die’ are raw slabs of pure deathcore - passages of blastbeats and breakdowns are traded throughout, with huge riffs and refrains built for the live setting. ‘Capable of Violence (N.F.W.)’ sees even more callbacks with some classic sound pinch harmonics and enormous grooves, with an absolutely piledriving verse pushing the track along at a venomous pace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrhdsMBBjlo
The choice of Taylor Young in the producer’s chair is a big, successful call. Best known for working with a variety of nasty, dirty metal and hardcore acts as both a producer and musician (Nails, Xibalba, Vitriol, Twitching Tongues) his unpolished attack gives Remember… You Must Die the dirt under the nails it simply needs - as well as harkening back the sound on Suicide Silence’s enormous debut The Cleansing. A computer-tight, pristine-clean record would not work here - instead we’ve got a full length that sounds like it was laid down in the rehearsal room; and it’s all the better for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmh70wH6dbs
Eddie Hermina - on his fourth SS LP - is solid, delivering powerful screams and guttural lows. At times though he is an unnecessary presence - lyrically it’s mostly steeped in cliche, and the robotic spoken words on ‘Alter of Self’ almost kills the previous two excellent minutes of brooding intensity. Fortunately a blistering drum fill from newest member Ernie Iniguez and a slowed-down outro ends the record highlight strongly. The lack of the great one-off single ‘Thinking In Tongues’ in the tracklisting is surprising, but it’s absence is filled with strong album cuts like ‘Endless Dark’, ‘God Be Damned’ and ’Be Deceived’. Perhaps Remember…’s biggest curveball is it’s tremendous closer ‘Full Void’. Nearing a six-minute runtime, the weighty number sees Suicide Silence stretch things out musically like never before. Still heavy as hell, the band put in the instrumental work during the song’s second half, building upon riff after riff toward a haunting outro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpzODhfaGUo
Remember… You Must Die - or Memento mori in Latin - is built and designed with the old school Suicide Silence and deathcore fan in mind. If you’ve never been a fan of the group, this probably won’t convert you - the playbook isn’t being rewritten here. It would be completely remiss though for anyone who fell off the SS bandwagon in the previous years to not at least give this a chance. Naysayers may claim that this stylistic backpedal may be an attempt to merely win back fans - and perhaps there is an element of wanting to appeal to their fanbase. What is apparent is that Suicide Silence have genuinely put their whole being into writing a throwback effort - faking it or a lack of full commitment with music this intense is painfully obvious. For this alone, Remember… You Must Die is a resounding success. However, the new tracks carry the same legacy as material from stone cold classics The Cleansing and No Time To Bleed? Only time will tell.
Suicide Silence – Remember… You Must Die tracklisting
1. Remember…
2. You Must Die
3. Capable of Violence (N.F.W)
4. Fucked for Life
5. Kill Forever
6. God Be Damned
7. Alter of Self
8. Endless Dark
9. The Third Death
10. Be Deceived
11. Dying Life
12. Full Void
Rating: 8/10
Remember You Must Die is out now on Century Media Records. Order here
Review By – Andrew Kapper. Twitter: @andrew_kapper
