SUICIDE SILENCE

I'm not one to completely dismiss a sub-genre outright just because it is part of a popular trend, such as deathcore, which continues to hang around no matter the number of bands aping the style. It is a case by case type of thing with me, even though I'll admit that I don't exactly sprint to the mailbox hoping beyond hope that a new deathcore promotional CD is waiting for me. And I do find at least a handful of deathcore releases to be worthwhile, such as MOLOTOV SOLUTION's "The Harbinger", an album where song structure counts as much as down-tuning. I do however get sick in a hurry with the preponderance of deathcore acts running wild in the proverbial streets. But I'll be damned if a new generation of metal fans — and a handful of old timers — are loving deathcore to, uh, death, as evidenced by SUICIDE SILENCE's "No Time to Bleed" landing at #32 on the Billboard chart, selling 14,000 copies in its first week of release.

Does that somehow prove the album's worth to the average metal fan? Not as far as I'm concerned. My opinion of SUICIDE SILENCE has not changed a great deal since I reviewed "The Cleansing", which I like a little less now than when I first reviewed it. Just like my opinion of that 2007 release, I find "No Time to Bleed" to be better than average, satisfyingly brutal, and worthy of the occasional spin, but not a mandatory release by any stretch. The songwriting is more varied and Machine's (LAMB OF GOD) production is excellent, making those rubbery licks even fatter, the dexterous drumming of Alex Lopez even more thunderous, and the various effects creepy as hell. Vocalist Mitch Lucker does a better job here too, his screams absolutely throat-shredding and his low-end growls dark, evil, and full of rage. "Smoke" is perhaps the best example of those elements coming together to make a definitively brutal impact — e.g. the drum fills are delightfully nerve-fraying and the switch to a breakneck pace is frighteningly violent. I wouldn't call most of these songs memorable per se, but there are a handful that come close, such as the aforementioned "Smoke" (more for its sonic suffocation than any kind of melody) and "Suffer", which probably has more to do with the way the distorted, gang-shouted one word chorus worms its way into your ear holes than any kind of overt tunefulness.

So yes, "No Time to Bleed" is a solid metal album, regardless of sub-genre, but it is not even close to album-of-the-year material, much less an honorable mention. In other words, it will sure as hell do the trick for those in need of a good skull rattling, but won't be studied by metal scholars 20 years from now for its inventiveness. I certainly won't complain if I walk into a room where "No Time to Bleed" is being cranked so loud that woofers are busting and plaster is falling off the ceiling. It is, after all, heavy as fuck and twisted as hell, which in the world of metal is worth at least a few points. But giddy over it? I think not.