Fresh from their Suffer Forever tour, Perth’s Make Them Suffer have come out with their self-titled album. It comes out four years after How to Survive a Funeral and is the band’s fifth album. Some of the singles on the album such as “Doomswitch” have been kicking around for a while.
We open with “The Warning” a brooding, building introduction for what is about to come, before building into the opening riff of “Weaponized”. Some tracks have a bouncier sound than some of their previous works, but they mainly stick to what has brought them success across their previous albums.
Despite some lineup changes, the sound of the band remains committed to the metalcore sound, with keyboardist Alex Reade providing the contrasting vocals to main man Sean Harmanis.
“Mana God”, which follows “Doomswitch”, takes on a heavier tone, with Harmanis taking his growl to a new level. The band describes the album as the “result of years of accumulation of material, experimentation, and growth. We think that really comes through in the songs. We’re incredibly excited for people to hear our self-titled record, and even more excited about what the future holds.”
The future is looking bright for the band, with various shows on their recent tour selling out and another European journey coming up. There is a wave of Australian bands making their mark on the world stage and Make Them Suffer are riding high on that tide.
In their quest for global dominance, the band have joined with SharpTone Records for their international orders, while continuing their relationship with Greyscale Records in Australia.
“Epitaph”, another one of the singles that has been out for a while starts out with some chaotic guitar work before Alex Reade comes in with her softer touch on the vocals, before the band returns into heavy mode. The following track “No Hard Feelings” takes a bit more of an introspective tone. The song finishes with Reade and Harmanis splitting the harmonies covering some dark themes – “and I don’t want to watch you kill yourself.”
This song was less in the standard metalcore sound and sounds more like Svalbard with the mix of male and female vocals. The combination of the pair is where the band do their best work.
Throughout the album, there’s a bit of an electro influence and this comes more to the fore in the penultimate track “Tether”. The closer “Small Town Syndrome” starts off at a frenetic pace and includes the reminder “I know your skeletons.”
Make Them Suffer have been building their presence in the scene for over a decade and this album, along with their ever-growing stage show, will keep them in the top echelon of metalcore bands.
Make Them Suffer: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: Greyscale Records/SharpTone Records
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Daniel Boyle
