Reviews list for Make Them Suffer - Neverbloom (2012)

I have given Neverbloom around three spins over the past couple of days and it has grown on me, from my first impression at least. When they settle down into rhythm and riffage, there are some genuinely entertaining moments for me. Tracks such as ‘Widower’ and ‘Maelstrom’ standout as being high points in this regard and I suspect there could be more of these moments if the arrangement was just a little better thought through. I think the piano is perhaps the worst conceived part of the instrumentation, often it sounds like someone has started playing another track over the top of the current one and it does take a couple of seconds to reconcile that it is actually on the same track. The synths stab perfectly well to create a sense of theatre and drama where they get deployed, but for a “symphonic deathcore” record, I find it surprising how little focus the symphonic elements actually get.

Vocally there is nothing here to surprise me as it seems to be pretty standard deathcore fare in all honesty, but it is the riffs that are my only real positive takeaway from this record. They are by no means perfect, but they certainly do land a lot better than most of the rest of what is on offer. I get the sense that Make Them Suffer had some good ideas going into this one, and I am of course giving them some rope as this was their debut. However, the ideas never really shine as I suspect they could, appearing to be sacrificed by a confusing, if not outright disorientating arrangement problem that is something of a curse on the album I feel.

I listen to a lot of deathcore during my workouts nowadays and so I am perhaps a little more desensitised to The Revolution clan’s previous penchant to overwhelm this well-travelled metal head than I was some three or four years ago. Although Neverbloom does not land all that well with me, I still enjoyed the discovery experience and could be tempted by a listen to a later album to see if they did improve at all.

If people are gonna hate deathcore for its unoriginal blend of death metal and metalcore, they should at least try a hybrid between that genre and other influences. One of those hybrids is symphonic deathcore, with bands such as Winds of Plague and...oh yeah, Make Them Suffer!

With the deathcore scene rising and the metal community protesting over that scene because of lack of variation and talent, it can be hard for a deathcore band to actually get people to enjoy the genre. Australian band Make Them Suffer knows just what to do try to get some metal purists to give deathcore a try. The symphonic deathcore idea has already been created by Winds of Plague, but Make Them Suffer really unleash it to the world with a mind-f***ing gem, their debut Neverbloom!

The album starts with a calm symphonic "Prologue" complete with grand piano. It is the Audiomachine/TSFH-esque symphonic calm before the brutal storm. Then it fades away... and explodes into the massive title track! It starts with actual riffing instead of just the overused breakdown. The song is so epic and brutal, and even though it still has the breakdown, the one used in this song is the best in the entire album. There's a lot to progress in this 6 and a half minute monster (a couple more of those long epics would appear later in the album). I love how the bass doesn't cause the rest of the music to be heavily distorted. The piano is also great! It sounds so real, even though it's probably just the electronic keyboard. Keyboardist/pianist Louisa Burton is really talented, offering great soft piano contrast to the deathcore breakdowns and riffing, playing actual piano melody instead of just a few keys. She also provided background vocals in this song, similar to Skillet drummer/vocalist Jen Ledger in their album Awake. Both her piano and vocals add the melodic beauty of their sound. That epic has the essence of perfection! Next song "Morrow (Weaver of Dreams)" has a formula that would be followed later on the album. It has perfect groove-influenced. Once again, piano blends well with the riffing. The bass is really great as well. Excellent song! "Elegies" follows that formula, this time adding poetic songwriting never before heard in deathcore, a genre plagued by sh*tty generic lyrics. The vocabulary is quite large, not just swearing but also a great deal of fantasy terms usually heard in symphonic/power metal.

"Maelstrom" is an absolute f***ing storm of epic and extreme, and I'm not saying it like a brown-nosing fanboy. This is more true epic deathcore power! A breakdown here might seem simple but it's another one of the most powerful in the album. It is the second of the three 6 and a half minute epics. Once again, the lyrics are so poetic that they can be published as poetry without the music. Those beautiful poetic lyrics are brutalized by the powerful screams of lead vocalist Sean Harmanis with a mighty voice ranging from black metal shrieks to death metal growls. The guitar work here is incredible too. The drumming is great, but it drowns out the bass. "Oceans of Emptiness" is another little calm symphonic interlude that serves as a great break from the brutality. Louisa Burton once again sings a bit of soft clean vocals. "The Well" continues the same formula; groove-ish riff-wrath, powerful breakdowns, blast beats, and well-played piano.

"Weeping Wastelands" was re-recorded from their brutal demo EP Lord of Woe, and is the band's longest song at nearly 7 minutes. It's not as special as those other two epics (the title track and "Maelstrom"), but it's still listenable by any means. Album highlight "Widower" has great use of metaphorical imagery in the lyrics combined with instrumental atmosphere. It truly is a descent into nightmarish chaos! In the distorted keyboard intro, you wake up in the weeping wasteland from the previous track having no clue what happened that caused the disaster. Then your memory comes back into your mind in clarity and terror as the music starts with Harmanis screaming "WILL YOU REMEMBER ME?!?!" beginning a vortex of desolated despair. The technical drum speed and ability is best presented in the epic closer "Chronicles". The song itself pretty much summarizes the entire album, taking pieces of everything from previous songs and putting them all into an epic extreme cauldron in just 6 minutes. 6 minutes of epic symphonic deathcore glory! Too bad the female vocals don't return until the next album. Then throughout the ending climax, it sounds pleasantly similar to the title track, and the outro matches the intro, stirring up the theme of everything ending where it began. What an epic ride this has been!

Overall, Neverbloom is a fantastic display of what the band has in store, and they helped deathcore continue going the right direction. The symphonic elements are excellent, never out of place, and they use actual riffing so they don't have to keep monotonously overusing breakdowns. The vocals are great, so are the guitars, the drums are good, and the bass is excellent though needed to take the spotlight more. Their band name is cool too, but they kept insisting that it didn't come from the similarly titled Cannibal Corpse song, much to some belief. Great album worth listening to for some of the most epic deathcore in the world!

Favorites: "Neverbloom", "Morrow (Weaver of Dreams)", "Maelstrom", "Widower", "Chronicles"