Suicide Silence : "Remember... You Must Die"

 It is funny to think about how heavy mainstream metal has become. To be honest I have gotten these guys confused with Whitechapel more than once. I know these guys have the dead singer, and a new guy from All Shall Perish. They also have a new drummer, meaning it's the guitar player's show here. Not sure where the line is between death core and death metal, this just has lots of riffs that sound like break downs due to the half time grooves, but it is death metal more often than not. Sometimes pretty catchy. I like how they open the song "Fucked For Life". There are more than their fair share of head banging riffs. Not much aside from tempo that feels like hard core. 

Yet a band like this proves to be divisive as hell when it comes to metal fans. The drummer can pour on the speed when called for , though the guitars grind it out in a more deliberate manner. The band is quoted as saying when making this record they always asked themselves is this heavy as possible. This tracks for me, as I think it is a very heavy album. I hear more Slayer influence haunting this album that any other band. "God Be Damned" begins to wear down the formula that has propelled the album and starts to feel like the first song that is dialed in. There are some cool riffs, but the rule here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. "Alter of Self" is darker, but nothing really grabs me aside from that.

So yes, they are heavy as hell, and not bad songwriters either, though I suspect keeping to their mission statement of is this heavy as possible also creates a chugging mush of sound. "Endless Dark" works best when they lean into the groove. 'the Third Death' is quick to find it's groove. It is also not far removed from a band like Slipknot. "Be Deceived" falls from the previous song and earns even more of a Slipknot comparison for the syncopation used. "Dying Life"  is pretty color by numbers for them at this point and falls into the wall of crunch created. The last song is also what I would expect based on the rest of the album , and it is well done for what they are doing here. I think nu-death metal is a better sub genre than death core. I will give this album an 8.5, they are not  breakings any new ground , but I appreciate where they are going with it.