In the event of a musician’s death the surviving members have a few options. You can do the Led Zeppelin and call it a career. Or you can turn the page and start fresh like New Order. And there’s always the AC DC method which is to keep plowing forward giving people what they’re familiar with.
Suicide Silence have chosen the AC DC path.
Three years since their last recording, The Black Crown (Century Media), and two since frontman Mitch Lucker’s untimely death, Suicide Silence have returned the appropriately titled You Can’t Stop Me (Nuclear Blast). While there was doubt on the prospect of new music, Suicide Silence took a year off and recruited Hernan “Eddie” Hermida to replace the late Lucker. While he was a magnetic stage performer, Lucker wasn’t the most accomplished growler, which is why Hermida’s entrance to the band should be a welcome one. If you ever got the chance to see Hermida’s former band, the commercially inferior/musically superior All Shall Perish you know he’s got chops and stage presence himself
While non-processed vocals and a strong live show is always good news, there are some bad news. The bad news being that they still sound like Suicide Silence. Like this could be the sequel to The Black Crown. It’s a sound that I’d hesitate to call death metal. After enough listens You Can’t Stop Me sounds something more akin to groove metal, metalcore or even nu-metal.
I’m not sure if it’s because of Lucker’s death, but Suicide Silence leave no doubts that this is an album from the folks who gave you ‘Disengage’ and ‘Wake Up.’ All earmarks are present, from the triggered drums, requisite breakdowns and simple song titles (‘Monster Within,’ ‘Warrior,’ ‘Inherit the Crown’). And to really make sure you understand it’s the same band you know and love (or love to hate), they’ve conveniently also included a re-recorded version of ‘Ending is the Beginning’ from their debut EP. Ironically ‘Ending is the Beginning’ may the best song on the album.
They say the more things change the more they stay the same. Suicide Silence believes that and for good reason. They’re on of the few metal acts today that consistently finds themselves debuting with the Billboard Top 100. It’s just disappointing because they had a fantastic opportunity here to reinvent themselves. But they seem to enjoy being the Toyota Camry of extreme metal. Selling well while being perfectly vanilla.
5/10
HANSEL LOPEZ