Valkyrian Music

Suicide Silence – Sacred Words (EP)
Released October 23rd 2015
Deathcore
Released via Nuclear Blast

Although this is billed as an EP, I certainly feel more like I’m listening to an old school single. The release comprises of the title track, plus its instrumental version, remix version, and live version, accompanied by live recordings of a further two tracks – Cease To Exist and Inherit The Crown. It’s a minor detail, but I think most people have come to expect more new material from musical output in this format. I also feel that four renditions of the same work is total overkill.

The focus track itself (taken from 2014’s You Can’t Stop Me) is a good display of ‘Eddie’ Hermida’s more core oriented vocal style, which has naturally divided opinion amongst fans since the untimely demise of original frontman Mitch Lucker. The music, however, lacks some of the vehemence of their previous recordings, and, for me, it’s the live takes which lift this platter to its peak. The energy they are delivered with is akin to that on some of extreme metal’s brightest moments in concert audio recordings. The immediate comparison which springs to mind is Pantera’s Live 101. The song-writing is a different pot of spuds, but the essence and tangible energy is very similar.

As someone who was never a fully-fledged admirer of Suicide Silence, or, indeed, deathcore in general, I am quite prepared for my opinion to be called into question on this, but to a certain degree, I find the new vocalisation more fitting to their current sound. That doesn’t mean better, and it could well be the case that the music has changed subtly in order to make this happen. The truth is we may never know, but in all honesty, it has turned me on a little to a band who I never really gave much thought to in the past, and I’m not really sure where many of their old school fans have found the ammunition for hate.

If you were a die-hard fan of You Can’t Stop Me, this will most likely please you as a behind-the-scenes collector’s piece, but I would personally hold out for the next full-length to effectively sate any death-core cravings.

3.5/5

 Paul Macmillan

This entry was posted on 7th November 2015 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Review with tags deathcore, EP, Nuclear Blast, Sacred Words, Suicide Silence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.