Suicide Silence - The Black Crown (2011)^{Release ID: 17866}

When I saw that The Black Crown was a deathcore release I went to RYM to check my rated releases to see if I had anything against which to reference it. Turns out I have never knowingly listened to a deathcore album before, which is not really that surprising as I will admit that I often struggle with 'core-related releases, chiefly because I struggle with the vocals. Well, first point goes to Suicide Silence, because I had no issue at all with Mitch Lucker's vocals as they stayed well below the "shouty teenager" level that is my cut-off point, whilst remaining particularly savage and pissed-off sounding. Musically, I actually had a pretty decent time with this, although it is aimed a fair distance from my metal sweet spot. I don't aim to pretend I know what I am talking about regarding a release like this that is so far removed from my usual fare, but I did find myself getting into the groove with a fair few of the riffs and, generally, the whole did provide me with a decent amount of enjoyment on a day when I may well have been in a frame of mind for something a bit different. On several occasions I found myself thinking, oh that sounds a bit like early Slipknot, a band not to everyone's taste I know, but I think they wrote some pretty decent metal tunes and it is meant as a compliment to Suicide Silence, not as a gripe against them. There is a surfeit of angst and vitriol on display and although such anger doesn't really translate to a retired sixty-year-old walking his dog on a beautifully sunny June morning, I can still relate to the sentiment.

As a band Suicide Silence seem very tight and economical - there is very little by way of  superfluous embellishment, the rhythm section is there to drive the tracks forward, not to impress the listener with fancy fills or bass runs. The guitar sound is pretty dense and the riffs are effective with one or two killers - You Only Live Once, for example. Personally I enjoyed the second half of the album more than the first as it adds a couple of small, but cool touches that enhance the experience for me. The opening few songs feel like a band blowing off steam and are totally focussed on aggressive delivery, but after the interlude of March to the Black Crown, which provides a nice mid-album breather with it's ominous sound and choral-style vocalisations, things get a bit more interesting. The interlude is followed by my personal favourite, "Witness the Addiction" which maintains the pissed-off aura of the album, but feels more considered with it's clean vocal sections providing more accesibility without compromise. The acoustic guitar parts of The Only Thing That Sets Us Apart fit into the song very nicely too and is a nice touch.

Overall, I would contend that whilst The Black Crown will probably never feature in my top 100 metal albums, it did provide sufficient enjoyment for me to return to it at some point in the future and, rather like Trivium's In Waves, it may well be an album I turn to when I fancy something outside my usual listening fare.

I’ve probably mentioned this in a previous review or two but the treatment of the extremely divisive subgenre of metalcore known as deathcore was one of the original catalysts for me being passionate enough to pursue the Metal Academy cause. I’m not saying that I absolutely love the subgenre by any means but its almost unanimously poor treatment amongst the more elitist end of the metal underground has always been something that's urked me, apparently enough to make me want to make a stand about it too. You see, there’s simply not much wrong with deathcore when compared with other more respected genres of extreme metal. The main gripes with it are around it’s genericism & lack of sophistication yet those same critics will then go off & rave about the next old-school Carcass clone which defies all logic. At the end of the day I just want fairness & equality for everyone in this vast global community & it’s often very hard to come by when the likes of Metal Archives refuse to accept a record like this one as metal & the RYM masses are rating it a ridiculous 2.49/5 from over a thousand votes simply because it is was it claims to be on the tin. None of this makes sense & has made it virtually impossible for deathcore fans to be able to sift through the zillions of also-rans in order to find the cream of the deathcore crop. That’s where Metal Academy came in….

Anyway… let’s not dwell on that much more & get on with the review. I went through a period of deathcore exploration from 2009 through 2012 after returning to metal from a decade spent indulging in electronic music. Part of that was due to the fact that I was used to an aggressive & brutal riff-based style of metal & was finding that a lot of the popular extreme metal releases of the time were more expansive & experimental & utilized many external influences such as post rock & shoegaze. As I was getting my head around all that, I needed something more easily palatable to take out my aggressions & deathcore was one of the sounds that fit the bill. Was it generic? Shit yeah it was but it was generally beautifully performed, professionally produced & savage as fuck so I didn’t give two shits. I didn’t find myself labelling too many deathcore releases as metal classics but not every record has to be to be worthy of my enjoyment. Suicide Silence appeared on my radar fairly late in that experiment but their 2012 third album “The Black Crown” seemed to stick more than most others. The chunky riffs, relentless vitriol & clean production all worked together to ensure that I gave the album a good number of repeat listens that year & has also seen it managing to hang on to a position in my Top Ten Deathcore Releases of All Time list to this day.

So why does “The Black Crown” get so badly slammed by the metal community even when compared with Suicide Silence’s earlier releases then? This is the only Suicide Silence release I’m familiar with so I can only guess but I assume it’s because this album saw the band exploring the influences they picked up in their youth a little more than they may have in the past, some of which could be regarded as a precursor for the unanimously panned self-titled 2017 album which by all reports saw them fully embracing a nu/alternative metal direction for a short while. While “The Black Crown” certainly achieves a nice balance of death metal & hardcore punk (which is a little heavier on the former if examined closely), it’s pretty clear that Suicide Silence were raised during the 1990’s & they aren’t afraid to show it on this occasion so you’ll no doubt pick up the odd groove-oriented Pantera riff or a few Korn-style nu metal chuggers throughout the tracklisting, not to mention short smatterings of progressive melodicism. It seems to be a trend to slam groove metal & nu metal in the underground metal scene these days (Thanks Metal Archives/Reddit!) but most of us were partial to records like “Vulgar Display of Power”, “Chaos AD” or “Korn” back in the day if we’re being honest with ourselves so it seems to me to be a little hypocritical to criticize others for wearing their roots on their sleeves, especially when the band are all such talented musicians who really know what they’re doing so pull it all off with aplomb. Drummer Alex Lopez was clearly trained at the Vinny Paul school of rhythm when it comes to accentuating the physical reaction from a riff without overplaying his hand & his blast-beats are absolutely on point. I really enjoy the lead guitar work which is quite accomplished too.

“The Black Crown” would sadly be the last Suicide Silence album for front man Mitch Lucker as he’d tragically lose his life in a motorcycle accident later the same year but he will certainly be the other stumbling block for your average death metal fanatic. I mean if you don’t like deathcore vocals then you’re not gonna like “The Black Crown” because he’s everything your average deathcore front man aspires to be. He screams out his lyrics with complete disregard for any sort of etiquette or class & is more brash & overbearing than he is authoritative. I have to admit that I can stomach him pretty easily though & I think that comes down to the fact that I’ve become more & more attracted to super-angry hardcore in my old age.

All things considered, a four star rating would still seem to many to be pretty high for a release like this one so what’s my justification? Well, I guess I just love genuinely aggressive metal that’s performed by capable musicians & produced with precision & professionalism. It’s really that simple. The riffs may not be terribly original & the plethora of breakdowns may be predictable but sometimes I don't need much in the way of originality & just wanna thrash out so “The Black Crown” fits the bill nicely. I can’t see why fans of bands like Whitechapel or Impending Doom wouldn’t find plenty to enjoy here too.