I’m probably in the minority when it comes to the belief that Suicide Silence’s self-titled album was one of the most unfairly dismissed albums of the last decade, but it certainly is unarguable that the record was condemned in the court of public opinion before it had even been heard in full. It was a wild leap into the unknown from a successful band who could quite comfortably have made a career out of playing it safe. Instead, they stripped back the production, experimented with sound and structure and came up with an album that veered from startling passages of aggression (Hold Me Up Hold Me Down) to spacey trip hop (Dying In A Red Room), creating their most diverse work in the process. The throat-ripping criticism, despite the band’s ferocious live shows demonstrating just how deftly the new material slotted in alongside established works, was entirely unmerited and a perfect example of the snowball effect that online criticism can generate. The band’s response was simple: regroup and redefine, staying true to their core identity and allowing the music to do the talking. The resultant Become the Hunter is an eleven-track album that is unstinting in its bloodlust.
Opening with the short, scene-setting Meltdown, the band have maintained at least some of the unsettling atmosphere of the previous album, albeit with a darker production more reminiscent of their earlier material. It paves the way for the unstoppable maelstrom that is Two Steps, an absolutely blistering riposte to anyone who dared doubt the band. Right from the off, Eddie Hermida digs deep to deliver a performance that is at the edge of extremity, blending gut-wrenching roars and pig squeals with an intensity that makes you fear for his sanity. The band keep both feet planted in death metal on the seething Feel Alive, Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun tearing out riffs as if their lives depend upon it, whilst shifting from thunderous power chords to a more nuanced attack, allowing some light and shade amidst all the blood and thunder. Edging into Cannibal Corpse territory, Love Me To Death is devastating, and the sense of intensity only increases as the band uncover a dark groove that runs through the track. Later, a more nu-metal infused sound emerges on the drop tuned In Hiding, the grinding riffs perfectly suited to Eddie’s venom-laden vocal delivery.
Kicking off the album’s second half, Death’s Anxiety opens on a giant, elastic guitar riff before devolving into a grinding, death metal assault that positively leaps from the speakers. In contrast, Skin Tight cleaves more closely to the self-titled album with an eerie clean riff and hypnotic beat underpinning Eddie’s increasingly desperate vocals. It’s a harrowing, emotionally-draining track and showcases a band unafraid to continue the search for new sonic elements to incorporate into their sound. A dizzying riff announces the arrival of The Scythe, a track that initially opens with a more nu-metal inspired vocal before Alex Lopez’s monstrous drums steer things to an altogether darker place. Yet, just as you think you have a handle on things, a progressive mid-section allows for some elegant soloing and a sense of calm amidst the chaos. It’s one of those moments where you just have to stop everything and admire the view as the band demonstrate the multifaceted approach that has long been at the core of their sound. Another track that showcases the band’s ability to deftly step across genre lines, Serene Obscene takes its time to emerge from a hazy introduction, infused with the sense of Eastern promise, before establishing itself as a world-eater, the crushing riffs and mid-tempo drums coalescing to crush skulls. With the album racing headlong towards its conclusion, Disaster Valley manages to up the ante on all that has gone before, the sheer bloody malevolence of the band’s delivery serving to raise the hair on the back of the neck. It leaves Become The Hunter to bring the album to a suitably explosive close, and this it does, the band unleashing one last toxic battery of deathly riffs and inhuman squeals, before it spins to a halt.
In some ways, Become The Hunter feels like a more natural step between You Can’t Stop Me and the self-titled album, and it’s hard not to wonder how things might have turned out had this album been released first. There’s still a sense of the band wanting to explore the more atmospheric regions of extreme metal, with the second half offering up some particularly interesting excursions beyond traditional deathcore territory, but the overwhelmingly visceral approach the band have taken, along with the darker, denser production makes this a heavy album indeed. Sadly, the clean vocals have been jettisoned in the shakeup, Eddie fully engaging to deliver one of his most devastating performances to date, but as the vocal approach serves the music, that’s not to say they won’t return in the future. A thrillingly potent album, Become The Hunter is the sound of a wounded band launching a withering assault on their detractors and, if there’s any justice in the world, it will see Suicide Silence riding high once more. 9/10
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