There is definitely something in the air, or maybe even in the water, this year as many bands across all sub genres of rock and metal are changing their sounds and perspectives. One such band is Australian Deathcore outfit Make Them Suffer on their new record Worlds Apart (Rise).

On their debut album Neverbloom (Roadrunner) the band exhibited a more straight forward Deathcore sound akin to acts like Aversions Crown or Fit For An Autopsy. But one thing was always apparent and that was that Make Them Suffer had more to offer in terms of songwriting, whether it was the odd clean female vocal or the use of keyboards.

So we come to the latest album where the band have chosen to shift towards a more  Metalcore sound akin to fellow countryman Northlane. At times it works, but for the most part it falls well short of where this kind of sound needs to be.

This is not to say the band have made a bad album, it’s just there’s nothing really to hang your hat on and say “Now, there’s something I haven’t heard before”; there’s nothing, really, that stands out from the crowd.

This disparity in the new sound compared to the old is perhaps most apparent with the loss of vocalist/keyboardist Luisa Burton who has now been replaced by Booka Nile. Now the band seem to have lost the x-factor they once had with keyboards not really playing much of a part on Worlds Apart. There was more of an atmosphere on previous releases and a sense of drama, now, whilst the vocals do blend really well on the new songs, the band has definitely lost something overall.

However, there are some moments of real quality, like the standout track ‘Fireworks’, which is actually one of the best songs they have in their arsenal now. The song has an amazingly effective intro which mixes keys and guitar to great effect. This is the track that really shows the mood and atmosphere that makes Make Them Suffer really tick.

Other tracks such as ‘Uncharted’ and ‘Vortex’ are also high points for the album, with the latter feeling like a real nod to the Neverbloom sound. These are probably the songs that bring together exactly what the band were going for on this new album; that being to meld and combine atmospheric keys and harmonies with a more bouncier and groove led feel to the riffs.

However, this quality just isn’t sustained for long enough and most of the other songs feel like filler and just plod along with no real dynamics involved as seen on the songs already mentioned. Make Them Suffer should be given praise for trying to shift away, evolve and actually write the music that they want and that makes them happy, but on Worlds Apart they haven’t quite brought it all together in one package.

6.5/10

KIERAN MITCHELL