''Become the Hunter'' is the sixth studio album by American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...

band

Suicide Silence Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band from Riverside, California. The band was established in 2002, and has released six studio albums, three EPs, and nineteen music videos. They were awarded the ''Revolver'' Golden God award for "Best ...

. The album was released on February 14, 2020 through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. Two years after its release, drummer Alex Lopez would depart from the band. Lopez is erroneously credited for drums on the album, but drums were actually performed by touring drummer Ernie Iniguez.

Musical style

After the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction to the

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

direction heard on the band's self-titled album, ''Become the Hunter'' features a return to the

sound the band is known for. Additionally, Dom Lawson of

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...

noted

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heavi ...

influences on "Two Steps" and "In Hiding".

Reception

''Become the Hunter'' received positive reviews from critics and has been hailed as the band's "

return to form Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or ...

's Dom Lawson called the album "the perfect follow-up to ''

You Can't Stop Me "You Can't Stop Me" is the first single from the Guano Apes' third album, ''Walking on a Thin Line''. It was released as a single on 13 January 2003, at which point the album it would appear on was still untitled. It reached No. 10 in Germany, als ...

''", while Naomi Sanders of ''Distorted Sound'' called ''Become the Hunter'' "a massive step up from the last album." A more mixed review come from Joe Smith-Engelhardt of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', who stated "the new record isn't a perfect show from them, but it is a return to form." Smith-Engelhardt said the album feels like a logical follow up to ''You Can't Stop Me'' and praised the band's use of guitar solos on the album, saying "instead of shoehorning in a solo for every song, they sparingly bring them in and have a great structure to each one." He said "Skin Tight" was the weakest song on the album, citing its atmospheric instrumental section and vocal delivery, comparing those moments to ''Suicide Silence''. The review concluded by saying "if you can pretend their last album never happened, it's a fantastic collection of songs and any fan of the genre will be able to find some things they like, but ultimately, it does feel like their switchback was done to save their career."

Track listing

Personnel

Suicide Silence *Eddie Hermida – vocals *Mark Heylmun – lead guitar *Chris Garza – rhythm guitar *Dan Kenny – bass Additional musicians *Ernie Iniguez – drums *Clinton Bradley – programming, sound design *Darius Tehrani – additional vocals on track 11 Production *

Steve Evetts Steve Evetts is an American record producer who has produced music for Alesana, Poison the Well, A Static Lullaby, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura, Symphony X, Saves the Day, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Hightower, Story of the Year, Every T ...

– production *Josh Wilbur – mixing *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– mastering *Adrian Baxter – artwork, layout *Rob Kimura – layout design

References

{{Suicide Silence Suicide Silence albums 2020 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Steve Evetts