Suicide Note are one of those bands that are great because they just can’t be pegged. Yeah, the name might suggest something in the metalcore/screamo department, but don’t be fooled. Instead you get a band that manages the unlikely feat of combining the sound of bands like These Arms are Snakes, Les Savy Fav, Pissed Jeans, and even The Stooges. From start to finish Empty Rooms is a sweaty, twisting, noisy piece of rock that manages to tap into hardcore’s abandon, rock’s sex appeal, and post-punk’s artistry. On paper it might sound like a band full of indecisive members, or a train wreck of sounds, but despite the chaotic nature of Suicide Note’s music, the band manage to keep everything from completely boiling over thanks to solid musicianship and front-man Casey Donley’s guide-through-a-twisted-fun-house vocals.
The album seems to open mid-song with the tribal-sounding “Truly Historic.” Here the band go from a pumping drum beat and cries for help to full-throttle filthy rock. The guitars are dirty, the bass is big enough to shake floorboards, and the drums are simply being ravaged. It’s the sort of mayhem-fueled rock that can’t be faked.
Merci, Mercy” opens with the promise of something quieter thanks to a simple bass line and and bits of squeaky guitar. Here Donley manages to shift back and forth between foaming-at-the-mouth rants and hushed, melodic pleas creating a bit of pysch-rock luster. Still, what is most impressive and surprising about this song is how the band go into full on build up and instead of the expected crescendo go back into the quieter jabs of guitar noodling. This retreat makes the eventual, albeit still reserved, breaking point all the more fulfilling. It is the close of this song where Suicide Note recall listen-worthy screamo acts like Wow, Owls! and Hot Cross.
If other songs hinted at mental illness and a fondness for swirling tripped-out rock movements, “Simple Math” goes the rest of the way. A verse full of echoing guitar lines is ridden by Donley and guitarist Jason Golday’s back and forth vocals that come off like voices at war within someone’s head. Eventually the song does explode, showing that the more brutal side of the debate has declared victory. Suicide Note surprise with songwriting twists again by following up the rugged explosions of sound with some post-punk panache, making for a scenic and worthwhile detour.
The Les Savy Fav comparison I dropped earlier may not seem clear yet, but look no further than “New Eyes” with its simple keyboard line, driving drum beat, melodic shouts, and hipster guitar bursts. It’s a fantastic song, and a fantastic change of pace that exhibits just what I meant about Suicide Note not being easily pegged, yet not simply being an all-over-the-place mess.
Okay, so maybe the instrumental “Ride Out West” wasn’t really needed – yeah, it does have some decent riffs, but also some duds – but the band do follow it up the ultra-brash “Black Snow.” A song that bubbles and screeches with ramshackle glee. Instruments slide, bang, buzz, and yell on this track while Donley goes on a violent screed. The slinky bass line and noise-guitar breakdown is also a nice touch making the song’s culmination all the more sinister.
I’m glad I didn’t simply judge a book by its cover with Empty Rooms, something that would have been easy to do thanks to the Suicide Note moniker as well as typical girl’s face cover art, because what comes inside the package is far different than what I expected. Suicide Note are a fun and excited band who know how to take all of their influences and wrap them up into strange, bulging packages with sharp corners and gaudy ribbon, and yes, that’s a good thing. Yeah, it’s “heavy” and loud and teetering on the edge of what most people conceive as “rock,” but that’s what makes it so refreshing and cathartic. Suicide Note embody a sense of rebellion that rock has lost sense its early days, by taking risks musically and channeling a host of often tricky emotions.
