Music Reviews
Suicide Silence “The Black Crown”
Suicide Silence“The Black Crown”
Genre: Deathcore
Label: Century Media
Format: CD
Year: 2011
Tracklisting:
01. Slaves to Substance
02. O.C.D.
03. Human Violence
04. You Only Live Once
05. Fuck Everything
06. March to the Black Crown
07. Witness the Addiction
08. Cross-Eyed Catastrophe
09. Smashed
10. The Only Thing That Sets Us Apart
11. Cancerous Skies
Produced by Steve Evetts, (Hatebreed, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die) Suicide Silence is scheduled to release their third full-length album on July 12, 2011 as their last while under Century Media, as part of a three record deal.
The Black Crown starts off with a powerful track called Slaves To Substance, which is a song about a state of being after hitting rock bottom. This song perfectly defines hardcore and death metal, equally balancing both genres throughout the song. It picks up where the previous two full-length albums left off, with intense breakdowns and fast drumming. It’s not my favorite on the album, but it’s catchy so it works. O.C.D. and Human Violence offer thrash influenced down-tuning, while You Only Live Once could have quite possibly been wrote while consuming large quantities of Monster Energy. Perhaps that explains why it is my favorite track on the album.
As if You Only Live Once wasn’t enough in terms of switching it up, Jonathan Davis (Korn) joins front man Mitch Lucker on Witness The Addiction offering a sense of melody for the first time on a Suicide Silence album. Setting yourself apart in a stagnant genre like deathcore is the only way you can avoid being just another duplicated sound. Unfortunately Davis’ addition to Witness The Addiction is exactly why nu-metal should not be accompanied by deathcore. I understand Korn is one of the band’s many influences, but there are boundaries. Ya dig? Having said that, Frank Mullen of Suffocation teamed up with Lucker in Smashed, creating a masterpiece. The two complimented each other as they screamed back and forth, and everything fit perfectly together. The variation provided was much needed after that is an area in which No Time To Bleed lacked in.
As previously mentioned, The Black Crown does everything it needed to do to set itself apart in a very monotonous genre. Lucker does an exceptional job with his vocals on the album, offering many variations of screams, and even some whispering, providing a metalcore feel. The only complaints I have is the fact that Alex Lopez failed to present anything new on drums, and Dan Kenny is pretty much non-existent, doing absolutely nothing to stand out. Despite their inability to impress me, I still highly recommend The Black Crown. It has plenty of songs that are sure to reach fans, and will hopefully add to their success. Respect.
Buy The Black Crown from Amazon
Buy The Black Crown from Century Media
No shit!! I downloaded this shit the day It came out! Love it!!!