Suicide Silence - The Cleansing (2007)

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Commonly held up as a deathcore classic, "The Cleansing" helped pave the way for a SHITLOAD of deathcore bands. I mean, more than you can fucking shake a glowstick at! I can totally see how: This album is pretty basic and a bit monotonous, but it's got some jams on it! The entire album has this great production style that's raw and animalistic, where the electric guitar can sound like a fog of sound, with the occasional high notes piercing out of it like someone stabbing you in the mist, and that combined with the drum sound which isn't overly loud, it can almost even sound like a live album sometimes with just how raw but enjoyable it sounds. This all accompanied by vocalist Mitch Lucker delivering devilish black metal high screams, demonic mids, and "I swallow gravel" lows, it's pretty much the musical equivalent of a jackhammer attacking your ears, but it can be, despite that description, enjoyable for what it is, and that's a "KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid" deathcore album.

I'm not really a fan of deathcore, and by that I mean I'm not a fan, I don't go out of my way to check out a new band, or even listen to many deathcore bands in general, but this deserves respect (and criticism) where it's due. "Unanswered" is a fucking jam, complete with the edgy "WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING GOD NOW?!" lyrics fit for any 14 year old Atheist who just wants to tell their parents "FUCK YOU I DON'T WANNA GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY". Another track definitely worth noting is "No Pity for a Coward", you know, that song with the whole "SECONDS FROM THE END, WHAT'S IT GONNA BE? PULL THE TRIGGER, BITCH" thing! I remember someone saying the song WASN'T about suicide, and was about taking control of your life to better yourself as a person, with the "pull the trigger" part being about making the first step, but that was a fuckin' REACH if I've ever seen one. Silly shit. Anyway, those two songs will have you whisper-screaming the lyrics aggressively into your cupped hands, and that's the best thing deathcore can do for ya, ain't it?

This all being said, while the album is certainly enjoyable for what it is, I can't tell most of these tracks apart. Sure, it's a nonstop mosh, but I have no fucking idea what song I'm listening to most of the time, and I've heard this album plenty of times before! That being said, if you like one song on here, you'll probably like all of 'em or give up listening to the album because listening to it in full can be a bit of an endurance test if you're not entirely absorbed by the genre. I personally have no problem listening to it (I used to binge-listen Pig Destroyer) but this is definitely music to give your dad a headache to. Fans of extreme metal genres in general will probably be a bit disappointed in this album due to a lack of changing up anything, and lack of much technicality, but it's just a dumb but fun album. Can't handle it in super large doses or at that high of a volume, but it's definitely got its moments that help cement it as being an album that'd be fun to hear them perform live.

On a side note, my girlfriend once mentioned to me that she was a fan of Suicide Silence before they got popular, but they've pretty much ALWAYS been popular! That holds absolutely no relevance to this review, I've just never mentioned her on here and I want to date this review to a time where I was dating her, so if she ever leaves me, I can stumble across this one day and maybe shed a tear. That being said, if she DOES leave, "Bludgeoned to Death" has a line it that goes "THE DOCTORS WON'T BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE YOUR FUCKING FACE!!" so I guess that'd be my soundtrack in the background while I'm killing her new boyfriend. Ah well, luv u bae xoxo

7/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!