Make Them Suffer

A punishing fusion of deathcore and blackened symphonic death metal defines the sound of Perth-based extreme metal group Make Them Suffer, whose fourth studio album, How to Survive a Funeral, arrived in 2020 and reached the Australian Top 20. Four years afterward the band delivered its self-titled fifth LP, the first release on the Sharptone imprint.

Sean Harmanis on vocals, Nick McLernon and Richard West on guitar, Chris Arias-Real on bass, Heather Menaglio on keys, and Tim Madden on drums assembled the lineup in Perth during 2008. Their opening EP, Lord of Woe, surfaced in 2010; the following year Menaglio exited and Louisa Burton took over the keyboard chair. Roadrunner Records issued the debut full-length Neverbloom in 2013. Two years later the sophomore set Old Souls appeared, prompting Rise Records to re-release it in 2016. That same year the band previewed its next effort with the singles “Ether” and “Fireworks,” then unveiled the Rise debut Worlds Apart in 2017. Also in 2017, Burton, Madden, and guitarist Lachlan Monty—who had joined three years earlier—departed; Harmanis and McLernon recruited Jordan Mather on drums, Jaya Jeffery on bass, and Booka Nile on keys. The refreshed roster toured the globe in support of Worlds Apart throughout 2018.

Late in 2019 the group began tracking its fourth album with producer Drew Fulk, whose credits include Motionless in White and Lil Wayne. Rise issued the resulting How to Survive a Funeral in mid-2020 after the lead singles “Erase Me” and “Soul Decay” had been released; the record became the band’s highest-charting release to date. Keyboardist Nile’s tenure ended with that album, and Alex Reade stepped in during 2022. The band subsequently left Rise, signed with Sharptone, and self-produced the self-titled album that appeared in late 2024.