Review Summary: Heavy as balls, Suicide Silence's debut CD The Cleansing is 45 minutes of crushing death metal.
Clocking in at around 45 minutes,
The Cleansing is Suicide Silence's debut CD after releasing four previous splits or LPs. Led by guitarists Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun, Suicide Silence plays a generic brand of death metal spattered with "br00tuhl" breakdowns every which way. Sounds bad? It is. So why did I give this CD a 3? Unlike most like-minded acts, Suicide Silence is heavy as balls. Nearly every song on this album will make you want to break someones face, punch holes in walls, and break family heirlooms. As soon as you pop in the CD, 33 seconds goes by before the lead track "Unanswered" pummels you in the face with it fast-pace sludgy opening riff. From "Unanswered" to "Destruction of a Statue," this CD is balls to the wall heavy.
Instrumentation
As mentioned before, lots of the music on this CD is quite generic, although there are some bright spots. For instance, the breakdown at the end of "No Pity For A Coward" that has one guitar player sweeping solo while singer Mitch Lucker screams hideously. Other memorable riffs are in "Unanswered" and "The Price of Beauty." The drummer does nothing but prove that he can play d-beats, blast, and make chugs with his bass drum. Other than a few fast fills, nothing to really be amazed about. As is said in every metal review, the bass is totally unintelligible. The most amazing thing about this band is the singer, Mitch. Without him, Suicide Silence would just be other boring "deathcore" band. He brings his lyrics to life with his ear shattering highs and earth moving lows. Lyrics like "Seconds from the end/What's it gonna be?/Pull the trigger *****" and "For all the prayers that go
unanswered/Why do you think that is?/For the families that waste their time/Open your eyes" are mere samples of what comes out of Mitch's mouth.
Production
The Cleansing was produced by John Travis (Static-X) and mixed by Tue Madsen (The Haunted). Unlike most CDs,
The Cleansing was recording live. This may contribute to the album having a "looser" sound than most CDs. The guitars and vocals have a brutal edge to them, while the drum mix is a little odd. The bass drums have a very "smacky" sound to them, and the snare has a bit of a drag when the drummer blasts, but other than that, it sounds fine.
Conclusion
If you don't need technical precision in your music, or just want to take a break from shredding, this is a good CD for you, otherwise stay away. This is not for people who dislike breakdowns. Overall, this is a solid CD for a generic band.
