Make Them Suffer’s Worlds Apart Will Not Make You Suffer

It’s easy to misjudge Australia’s Make Them Suffer. I’m certainly guilty of it. They are, on the surface, a NWOAHM band who have arrived well past that trend’s expiration date, complete with good cop/bad cop vocals, chugga-chug riffs, breakdowns, and a token female keyboardist. Judge this book by its cover, and you’re likely to assume they’re a third-rate Bleeding Through or a second-rate Winds of Plague.

What sets Make Them Suffer apart from those bands, and those types of bands, though, is that quality which ultimately sets all good bands apart from the bad: their ability to write good songs. And I’m here to tell you, folks, Make Them Suffer’s just-released sophomore album, Worlds Apart, is chock full of good songs that act as darts to your brain’s dartboard. A lot of this just has to do with their ability to write that enigmatic thing known as a “hook,” steeped in the instant feel-good sound we call “groove.” A lot of it also has to do with the ways they utilize those elements of their sound that seem, on paper, like clichés. That token female keyboardist, for example? Her name is Booka Nile, and her spectral synths and singing actually bring a lot to the band, and don’t get buried in the mix the way some “Hottest Chicks in Metal” fodder do. I’ve said their music has a Deftones-esque component to it, and this due almost entirely to Nile’s parts.

So, yes, a lot of what Make Them Suffer do is familiar, and perhaps, sometimes, silly (there’s a track called “Vortex (Interdimensional Spiral Hindering Inexplicable Euphoria)” where frontman Sean Harmanis spends a portion of the chorus just making dinosaur noises). But they do it so well! Being able to build a chair may seem like an entry-level carpentry gig, but when you see how many others are trying and failing to build chairs that don’t immediately collapse under the slightest weight, you have to appreciate what Make Them Suffer do.

So maybe Make Them Suffer are NWOAHM… assuming those initials stand for “New Wave of Australian Heavy Metal.”

Stream Worlds Apart below. The album is out now on Rise. Get all of Make Them Suffer’s upcoming tour dates here.