Not going to shows has been the ultimate burden of 2020 for all metalheads. So many tours were announced and we were al ready to see amazing performances by so much talent while bracing for the moshpit. With the pandemic, any chance of enjoying the beauty of live music in 2020 is gone. Metal has always had a way of holding its own while enduring tragedy and suffering. Many bands have been live streaming performances to hold us over and while it will never take the place of a live show, it is definitely fulfilling the open void for the time being.

Suicide Silence is a band with pure aggression and energy, unique style and dedicated fans. Suicide Silence has blessed us with the sound, style and imagery of the genre known as deathcore. Having dealt with so much in the past, they have mastered the art of using internal and external turmoil as an armor rather than an anchor. Constantly reinventing themselves with what we all know and love from them, Suicide Silence have used their creative energy to give us Suicide Silence TV. This was not just a live stream of a performance. They created a virtual tour catered to the time zones of individual cities, and they starting off in New York City. At 7pm on July 2^nd 2020, the intensity we all know and love was brought into our apartments.

Online in their waiting screen, we got some great footage of past live performances at Mayhem Festival, previous tours and other performances, creating a visual retrospective of the legacy of what makes Suicide Silence amazing. When 7pm hit, guitarist Mark Heylmun shows us 4pm PST and takes us into Suicide Silence TV. Every member gives us a brief tutorial of what this virtual tour is all about, from bassist Dan Kenny showing us the online chat so fans can still interact, Guitarist Chris Garza showing us their online merch, drummer Alex Lopez showing that we can request certain songs, and vocalist Eddie Hermida taking us into the jam space where all the brutality was about to go down. Playing classics such as You only Live Once as well as diving into some deepcuts in their catalogue and letting fans vote for certain songs, leading to the intense track Destruction of a Statue, you had a unique setlist to go along for this unique experience.  Ending with Hold me Up, Hold me Down, we get the ultimate killing spree of brutality. Eddie did not loosen up on the stage presence either. There was plenty of shoutouts, and telling everyone to open up a wall of death and the classic line, BANG YOUR FUCKING HEADS. It was the most interactive experience on a computer screen.

When all this kicked in, we felt the screams, the blast beats and the intense riffs of Suicide Silence hit us through the computer screen. We had Eddie telling us New Yorkers, lets pretend we are at Irving Plaza and they kicked into the brutality we all know and love. You felt the urge to crowdkill, mosh, and even start a wall of death in your living room. The camera footage to capture this moment was truly remarkable. Every member was able to have their own spotlight, making you appreciate the playing of Chris, Alex, Dan and Mark all while Eddie would unleash intense lyrics on the mic. The production was so well done, this easily could have served as a music video as much as a live stream.

In addition, you had a chat room displayed right next to the video so you can interact with fans, request songs and have fun. This was able to fulfill the human interaction we all love in a show.

The performance and online interaction wasn’t just part of this experience, after all, it is Suicide Silence TV. We had some cool footage from the legacy and memory of vocalist Mitch Lucker.

You can tell that these guys really made the most of this virtual tour. They were not afraid to have fun with this. From the awesome commercial of the Alex Webster Dictionary showing us the most metal words, to some hilarious green screen performances of the members and a cooking show with Chris Garza, showing us the magic concoction of pizza and oreo cookies and the advertisement for the hateful comments in Liquid Death’s new album Greatest Hates is the icing on the dethcore cake. Being some of the coolest and funniest guys in the scene, they made every moment of this pure positivity.  

After a kick ass performance and some awesome and hilarious adds, we get some footage to remind us of the good ol days. From the early days to remember Mitch Lucker and his great lyricism and stage presence and great sense of humor, to footage of their performances at clubs and festivals to make us look forward to the better days ahead.

To top all this fun off, we get an awesome online Q&A from these guys. If you have been to a Suicide Silence live show before, you will always see the members hanging out with their fans at the bar and in the venue. This pandemic was not going to stop these guys from interacting with their fans.

If all we had was a security guard throwing the drunk asshole in the pit out, we would have had almost everything we know and love from a Suicide Silence concert. With a great performance, hilarious advertisements, great online interaction, Suicide Silence is a band that really backs up their word when they say, You Can’t Stop Me. Though we are socially distant, musically we are all together.

Become the Hunter out now on Nuclear Blast.