Suicide Season

The critically acclaimed British metalcore unit's second record, Suicide Season, released in 2008, delivers on all fronts demanded by the genre – high-speed death-metal guitars with hardcore mosh breakdowns, infernal wraith-screech vocals, hyper-active double-bass drumming and a hint of melody. Decidedly more in line with commercial mores than the band's debut, Count Your Blessings, the album is by no means watered down. For starters, it was recorded in a Swedish village, a fitting decision for a band so clearly influenced by the melodic death-metal scene of Gothenburg, Sweden (especially At the Gates). The closing title cut is as heavy as metalcore gets and "It Was Written In Blood," based on the suicide note/final poem of Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, has become one of the band's signature songs. "Football Season Is Over," with old- school guitar moves and a bus-flipping chorus learned directly from the Beasties' Licensed To Ill, is another great moment.