Single Slam – Silence by Suicide Silence (Suicide Silence)

Suicide Silence have released a new single called Silence. Silence will be on the new album, also called Suicide Silence, which will be released on the 24th of February via Nuclear Blast. That is a lot of use of the word silence already. Silence follows on from their first single, Doris, which I really like and you can read our review of it here. It is fair to say that not everyone is very keen on it. The change hasn’t sat well with long term fans as it marks a very clear and obvious change of direction for the band. As a band who are famed for playing very heavy deathcore metal, they have now switched their sound completely to something more akin to nu-metal.

Should a band change direction so massively having built a fan base around a different style? Korn did it and a lot of people didn’t bat an eyelid. I hated their change as you can tell from this review. I remember saying that it was so different it should have been made under a different band name. This isn’t as far a jump as that though I understand where the old Suicide Silence fans are coming from. I am not, or have never been a really huge fan so I am not well positioned to judge either way. At the end of the day, bands will always evolve and it isn’t correct to stipulate how far that evolution, or devolution, can go. If you like the music, buy it, support them and go see them live and if you don’t, well turn them off.

I still really like the track Doris though am not too keen on how the band have defended themselves. From a YouTube video of the band reading and laughing about the criticisms (okay, this was kind of funny) to Alex Porter, their drummer, being overly insulting on social media to that criticism which you can read some of here. A lot of that criticism is being levelled at lead singer Eddie Hermida, also of All Shall Perish. Replacing original vocalist Mitch Lucker, who tragically die in a motorcycle accident was always going to be tough. It inevitably brings a different style of singing. That was probably the strongest complaint from the release of Doris – how much clean singing there was. Again, not from me. I like it but many others do not.

The new track, Silence, is going to do nothing to appease the haters. It is almost completely cleanly sung for a start which won’t be welcomed. It is 4 minutes and 40 seconds long in total and while Hermida doesn’t attempt to reach very high notes too often, it still definitely has that early Deftones/Korn feel to it. In case anybody wondered whether Doris was a single experimental track, it wasn’t.

Silence has a very unpolished feel to it. It starts with a down tuned, chugging riff and rhythmic drum beat before turning into a slightly odd, muted guitar line that ends with a squeal. It is cleanly sung but as the verse builds the singing gets louder and threatens to break into a shout. The chorus is basic but catchy and there is a sort of breakdown of heavier music and strained shouting before it returns to the style of the first verse. Another chorus is followed by a heavier section with more shouting. That is followed by, well, silence with a single muffled guitar note played and hushed vocals sung in the background. It jumps back into the chorus again and that is repeated through to the end. It does raise the intensity and volume as the chorus fades out and the singing becomes shouting to end on a heavy note.

Songs don’t have to be fast to be deemed heavy. Silence does feel dark and heavy but in an unpolished Deftones style. It is quirky, raw and experimental sounding. Again, I quite like it though I don’t like it as much as Doris. If this was a new band, I think a lot of people would be raving about them and their uniqueness. The name is probably a hindrance but hopefully people will eventually be able to let go of that and either enjoy it or not just for the music.

Interesting, raw and creative is not a bad thing in metal. Yes, they don’t play deathcore anymore but their music is still dark and it is still heavy. Just in a different way. It sometimes gets a little closer to odd than quirky but I am okay with that. I am quite interested in hearing the whole album on it’s release. They are definitely now a “marmite” band but it just so happens I like marmite.

Check the song out for yourself here. Try to listen to it with an open mind. You can find out more about Suicide Silence at their website. Check them out on Facebook and Twitter too. If you like what you hear so far, why not pre order the new album from here?