Album Review: Suicide Silence-The Black Crown

Suicide Silence is a band that my opinion has changed on a million times. At first, I thought they were one of the absolute worst metal bands around as I soon as I heard their awful debut The Cleansing. After seeing them live twice and listening to No Time To Bleed, I thought they were a decent band. I saw them another two times after No Time To Bleed was released and now I am completely indifferent on them. That opinion still stands after listening to The Black Crown.

Suicide Silence really just doesn't do much special on this record. I will say the music has improved overall. The solos don't bleed into each other and sound the same like they did on their two prior records and there are a couple of slow sections which caught be my surprise. The guest spots from Frank Mullen of Suffocation and Jonathan Davis of Korn are pretty cool and help make "Smashed" and "Witness The Addiction" two of the best songs on this record. Outsides of these few bright spots, it's for the most part just run-of-the mill deathcore that doesn't really go anywhere. There is nothing really special or interesting going on during this record. Mitch Lucker's vocals have definitely gotten worse. His voice sounds strained and it seems like he has blown out his vocal chords since No Time To Bleed. Lucker has never been an amazing vocalist, but he has never sounded this weak and he is the worst part of the album for sure. On top of his weaker vocals, his lyrics are still stupid. Lyrics aren't really that big of a deal for me normally, but Lucker's lyrics are completely sophomoric and seems like he only writes lyrics to get kids pumped in the pit at shows.

The Black Crown is a very average record. The music has improved, but the vocals and lyrics have gotten worse. There are a few good tracks ("Smashed", "Witness The Addiction","Cancerous Skies") and a couple of duds ("Fuck Everything", "You Only Live Once"), but for the most part it's just complete mediocrity. I am sure a lot of kids will eat this up, but I really don't find anything special about Suicide Silence. They aren't awful, but they just don't do much to rise above the middle of the road.

2.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Smashed
2.Witness The Addiction
3.Cancerous Skies