Suicide Solution

After spending nearly 10 years as one of the premier deathcore bands on the extreme metal circuit, SUICIDE SILENCE undergo a dramatic transformation with their latest album—and say “bring it on!” to anyone who questions their judgment.

- Jon Wiederhorn

VETERAN DEATHCORE BAND Suicide Silence started experimenting with aspects of nu-metal and experimental rock shortly after they finished touring for their 2014 album You Can’t Stop Me. And they began to solidify their new sound at the end of 2015, immediately after playing direct support to Korn on the band’s 20th anniversary tour. In early January, Suicide Silence revealed their revamped style to the public with the release of the single “Doris.” The frantic, mid-paced number is colored with a melodic chorus, textural tendrils of guitar and an echoing middle-section. It’s more unsettling than it is explosive and it’s pretty much a microcosm of their eclectic self-titled new album.

“We’re 100 percent gung-ho crazy about this record,” lead guitarist Mark Heylmun says over the phone from his home in Venice Beach, California. “We took a big risk making it and it comes from a different place emotionally that took a lot of courage and focus.”

Although it took Suicide Silence until 2017 to reveal their new musical facelift—three years after the release of their fairly conventional deathcore album You Can’t Stop Me—Heylmun and guitarist Chris Garza were initially motivated to alter the band’s course after the motorcycle accident that took the life of their vocalist and close friend Mitch Lucker on Halloween night, 2012.

“Seeing Mitch pass away in front of me gave me the clarity and purpose to continue with no fear and no boundaries,” says Garza. “I was the only band member in the hospital that night. Doctors were trying to stop the internal bleeding. He went through two surgeries in eight hours, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop and there was nothing anyone could do.”