Review: Suicide Silence – Remember… You Must Die

In the last two decades the Metal world has presented significant advances in terms of sound evolution, trends come and go but perhaps no subgenre has shown as much growth as Deathcore. Bands such as Lorna Shore, Shadow Of Intent or Enterprise Earth have emerged in recent years to carry the flag of Deathcore today, a flag that for many years was been waved by what has been considered for many years its most iconic band: Suicide. Silence. 

Suicide Silence’s trajectory to this point has been well documented and at the same time something fascinating to witness. A group of friends who in the last decade have made changes that have caused different reactions in the whole scene, but still manage to continue moving forward despite facing adversity multiple times.

With no more wounds to heal, a new member in the form of Ernie Iniguez on drums and perhaps their best moment in many years, Suicide Silence announces the release of Remember… You Must Die, their new studio album serving as a follow up to the highly underrated Become The Hunter. Also bringing a great task on hand in creating a fresher album while they rediscover themselves, and let’s get this straight: They achieve it with flying colors.

The album begins with “Remember…” a chilling one-minute intro that gives us a small prelude to what’s to come and at the same time, the OG fans will immediately get some vibes from “Revelations”, the intro from the legendary album The Cleansing.

Once the “Remember… You Must Die” quote is recited, in an explosive way the whole band breaks through with “You Must Die”, the first single from this album that, although we have already heard it several times (even live), its impact is now even magnified due to the previous intro. A fast and powerful song dominated by the ruthless guitar attacks led by Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun and the frenetic beats of Ernie Iniguez. 

This song shares some similarities in structure with “Unanswered”, but adding much more Death Metal oriented twists on elements like the guitar riffs, but still keeping the essence of the Suicide Silence sound. 

We continue with “Capable Of Violence (N.F.W.)”, another single from this album that maintains the momentum of the opening song but this time around bringing elements much more oriented towards Groove Metal, with a violent work on guitar riffs and aggressive solo by Mark Heylmun, also highlighting Dan Kenny’s butcher bass tone throughout the song, especially with that epic ending.

Next up we got “Fucked For Life”, one of the previously unreleased songs and one of the album’s biggest surprises. Bringing some of the best “Hooks” on the album and instrumentally it is an absolute savage, in large part due to the insane drum work by Ernie Iniguez. 

On this song Ernie basically earns his wings as the drummer for Suicide Silence. Featuring wild blast-beats that get faster and faster as the song progresses until reaching the bridge and breakdown section where he adds insane double bass drum fills, while Eddie Hermida with shrill screams adds intense and memorable choruses that have the potential to be massive in an eventual live performance.

A key element from previous albums that Suicide Silence seems to have brought back on this new album is the “Fun Factor” during the creative process, translating this into a much fresher and more organic album. This is evidenced in “Kill Forever” where before starting the song they joke with the open mic and then continue with the frenetic devastation of the album.

This song shows us that year after year Eddie Hermida continues in optimal vocal form, proving why he is one of the best and most consistent vocalists in Deathcore history. Featuring great growl techniques, furious screams and even enhancing his ability to create memorable “Hooks” on his songs.

“God Be Damned” continues the fast and aggressive pace of previous songs. But the real magic happens in the bridge section, where the song slows down and Mark shines with memorable and emotional melodies, this being one of the highlights of the entire album. Showing an influence of exponents of Sludge Metal such as Crowbar or Down. 

Keeping this current Sludge vibe we continue with “Alter Of Self”, one of the promotional singles of this album that presents a very psychedelic song where once again the enveloping guitar melodies by Mark Heylmun and a constant beat commanded by Ernie Iniguez are some of the biggest highlights, including also that fill prior to the final breakdown of the song where Ernie once again flexes his technical skill in the drum set.

The speed increases suddenly once more with “Endless Dark”, a fast song full of unexpected rhythm changes to return to the blast-beats of the beginning and the occasional variation in which Ernie Iniguez adds unique patterns in each verse and section of the solo, a section that can be a potential circle pit starter when this song is performed live. 

“The Third Death” opens up instead with a direct breakdown, before taking off at full speed and returning to the same starting point with a similar breakdown and moving into a mid-tempo section with a catchy riff that goes hand in hand with the established hook by Eddie, until reaching the icing on the cake with a bestial and prolonged low guttural at the end. 

“Be Deceived” slows things down a bit, but still maintains the strength and consistency of the album. Its rhythmic patterns may remind us of some elements of You Can’t Stop Me, but this time around the band displays a greater sound force both in production and execution.

Another great aspect to highlight in Remember… You Must Die is the economy of the songs, even though most of these don’t reach the 4 minutes mark, Suicide Silence still manages to add large amounts of elements to each song. Achieving that none of these tracks falls into some kind of monotony due to its elaborated structures.

This is largely evidenced with the versatile “Dying Life”, where in its 3 minutes and 20 seconds duration mark Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun give an absolute clinic of riffs and grooves in one of the most dynamic songs on the album. There is a lot going on in this song and there are too many riffs in there, but still the band manages to keep the song’s set pattern making it still very enjoyable to listen to. 

Closing this great album appears “Full Void”, which can be considered the Magnum Opus of the album as it is the longest song, reaching 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Compared to the previous songs, this one begins with a very calm intro to progressively unleash its strength bringing with it a crushing breakdown.

Instrumentally it is the song where the band takes the most chances on the album and Mark Heylmun’s solos stand out a lot, but in certain spaces it would have been to hear more from Eddie. However, it manages to be a worthy closing track to an exceptional album by Suicide Silence, ending the same way it began. The dark voice reciting “Remember… You Must Die” to mark the end. 

Remember… You Must Die can be considered from a crucial album in Suicide Silence’s career. Beyond its great quality in composition, production and execution, it represents the band rediscovering itself again without necessarily falling into a nostalgia act and reaffirming its current great moment. Reinforcing the bond with their own identity as a band, something bigger and more powerful than any subgenre label.

Remember… Suicide Silence is alive and well.

Score: 9.5/10