Make Them Suffer - Old Souls (2015)^{Release ID: 7735}

SOULS. Whenever people see the title of an album or anything that ends with the word "Souls", they immediately of the Dark Souls video game series and its prequel Demon's Souls. Those games are great and the best and all but...f*** it, people! Can't we focus on something else that's great?! The second Make Them Suffer album Old Souls!! Though their music would make a good soundtrack for that game series...

Old Souls is as f***ing amazing as what video gamers think of the Dark Souls games, but it can't beat its predecessor Neverbloom. Their debut album still reigns with heart-felt emotion, brutalized epicness, and glorious intensity. Sadly, many Make Them Suffer listeners only cared about a few great songs enough for the band to continue playing those songs live today. Neverbloom is such as underrated album and I hope they play it entirely for its 10th anniversary tour a couple years now. Anyway, Old Souls is full of songs you can never forget, despite having less of the epic nature from Neverbloom.

The slow melancholic instrumental "Foreword" combines piano and strings, once again having the same epic vibe as Audiomachine/TSFH, except for the deep screams of Sean Harmanis. Then it blasts off into "Requiem" initially sounding like symphonic black metal with its blast beats before gnawing down into killer symphonic deathcore to die for. Then there's "Fake", which is never fake. It's a real punishing song with sharp riffs and menacing views towards hypocrisy and indoctrination that basically say "To h*ll with religion!" A great standout! Next song "Let Me In" has more melodic vocals and emotive lyrics in an effective tale of the throes of redemption. The lyrics are similar to their debut, but their music ain't! Keyboardist Louisa Burton continues her clean singing in more common usage than in Neverbloom.

"Threads" has some more of their earlier brutal delivery. "Through The Looking Glass" is a good break from relentless aggression as a calm electronic-orchestral interlude. You have a bit of time to catch your breath before you get hurled back into the glorious modern metal. "Blood Moon" is a mysterious track with more of Burton's clean vocals.

"Scraping the Barrel" has solid vocals in a mentally stable range from low growls to high screams, making that song another standout. Same with "Marionette" where Harmanis' unclean vocals fit well with Burton's cleans. Burton takes full stage in "Timeless", both in the keyboards and vocals, making this an interesting dynamic song. Finally, the title track has Harmanis and Burton growling and singing together over epic extreme instrumentation, sounding like a heavier brutal Nightwish.

Make Them Suffer have done another great album! Old Souls continues the poetic lyrical nature, driving blast beats, and symphonic/orchestral elements, now towering over the earlier growls and breakdowns for a more interesting soundscape. Many of the songs maintain the fast neck-twisting pace. The emotional intensity is mixed well with the top-notch production. The album might even have more layers and textures than many other metal albums out there. There's so much to love with these 40 minutes. Stop living under a f***ing rock, you can't miss this!

Favorites: "Fake", "Let Me In", "Scraping the Barrel", "Marionette", "Old Souls"