Suicide Silence Brings "Reminders of Hell" Tour to San Antonio with Emmure, Angelmaker, and Synestia

Suicide Silence brought their "Reminders of Hell" tour to San Antonio, and it was everything a deathcore fan could ask for. The gloomy weather did not deter San Antonio fans from heading to the Rock Box and experiencing a night filled with mosh pits, crowd surfers, intense breakdowns, and the occasional wall of death.

Synestia hit the stage first and delivered an amazing set. The group's sound can only be described as grandiose. It felt like I was listening to a death metal orchestra perform. The tracks feature symphonic backing tracks that blend seamlessly with the dizzying guitar melodies and blazing blast beats from the drummer. The band is labeled as extreme metal, and it's not hard to see why. Every single facet of their music seemed to be turned up 100%. Blast beats? 100% faster. Breakdowns? 100% heavier. Vocals? 100% more guttural and extreme. Definitely a new favorite band for me to listen to at the gym.

Canadian deathcore band Angelmaker was next, and I was instantly impressed with their sound. The band leans heavily into both death metal and the deathcore sound. One minute you're hearing a death metal guitar ballad with screeching vocals, and the next it's a brutal atmospheric breakdown with low guttural vocals. The band is led by a duo of frontmen, a unique sight, but one that resonates with me, as I used to be in a band that had two singers.

Hardcore heavyweights, Emmure, hit the stage, bringing their blend of hardcore and nu-metal style to the night. The band, led by singer Frankie Palmeri, is known for his rap-influenced vocal cadences in his lyrics and heavy, guttural vocals and screams. The set featured songs "Solar Flare Homicide," "Pigs Ear," and "R2DEEPTHROAT," among others. The band finished out the night with the fan favorite "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong."

Suicide Silence has been one of my favorite deathcore bands since I was a teenager (I am 33 now). I have a vivid memory of heading to Best Buy to purchase their new album, “No Time to Bleed,” back in 2009. The album was a foundational album for me and many others. It showed just how far the band was pushing the deathcore genre, and it got me hooked on the style of music. I started seeking out local shows with similar styles of music to attend and hoping the bigger bands in the genre would stop by my home region. In 2010, I finally got the chance to see Suicide Silence perform with their late great singer, Mitch Lucker. The show is a key memory of mine and is one of the main catalysts for my love of live music. So naturally, having the opportunity to photograph the band this time around was extremely important to me. 

Prior to the band walking out on stage, the band queued up "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen in its entirety. In my opinion, it was a hilarious but epic way to kick off a deathcore headlining set. The metalhead-filled crowd let it be known how psyched they were for Suicide Silence by singing along to every word of the song. 

The deathcore giants kicked off the night by performing "Unanswered," a throwback track from their first album, "The Cleansing." The track is an undisputed classic in Deathcore circles. It begins with a 100-mph drum snare and chugging guitars. The track culminated in a gargantuan breakdown as the crowd chanted along to the lyrics, and crowd surfers were making their way to the barricade.

The set featured songs from their entire discography. A few favorites were "Wake Up," "Graceless," "Disengage," and "Genocide." I made my way through the crowd to take better pictures of the band and was immediately slammed by a newly formed mosh pit next to me, followed by a crowd surfer landing on me. I was having a hell of a time (in a good way). Suicide Silence ended the night with another throwback, "No Pity for a Coward," that culminated in a brutal wall of death that most of the crowd seemed to be a part of.

This will certainly be a night that I will remember for a long time. I hope to see Suicide Silence again soon. I'm also excited to listen to their new album, "Graceless," that is set to release in a few weeks on November 20th. Make sure you check it out and grab your tickets now to one of the remaining "Reminders of Hell" tour dates. The tour just kicked off so there's a great chance you can experience an epic wall of death at one of the dates near you!