Of all sub-genres within popular alternative music today, Deathcore surely lends itself most to ridicule. Oceans of soundalike bands with bad breakdowns and even worse neck tattoos, there have been few breakouts turning heads outside the scene. Respected among peers, and peppering more than a few bills on the festival circuit are California’s Suicide Silence, whose first two records shine like a diamond in the rough and mix breakneck speed and relentless discordant technicality with no small amount of groove enamour them to fans of bands such as Chimaira or Lamb Of God.
‘The Black Crown’ attempts to smash in where 2009’s excellent ‘No Time To Bleed’ left off at full throttle, but early showings tend to peter out and never really leave second gear. The style has evidently been informed by the recent and bizarre rise of “djent”, but the record fails to launch until the double header of ‘You Only Live Once’ and ‘Fuck Everything’, the latter of which really portrays the influence of a band who must be Suicide Silence‘s local heroes, Korn. Ironically, the aforementioned‘s Jonathan Davis turns up after a short interlude track on ‘Witness The Addiction’, where frontman Mitch Lucker’s harsh bark interplays well with Davis’ trademark tortured wail.
Rather than see them shake off the Deathcore tag altogether, ‘The Black Crown’ won’t do much for Suicide Silence other than keep them alongside scene heavyweights like Job For A Cowboy and The Black Dahlia Murder, despite being a decent enough record. There are glimpses of when Deathcore was a different and more malevolent beast altogether, but their ace card can also be their bane – the gargantuan riffing is built around Lucker’s vocals, but there are no theatrics, and by the time penultimate track ‘The Only Thing That Sets Us Apart’, the affair becomes a little tiresome and migraine-inducing. Suicide Silence have evidently tried hard to change things up, but only greying slop has come out of the experimental melting pot.
OLLIE CONNORS