Suzzallo - The Quiet Year (2025)

Suzzallo (pronounced Sue-Zuh-Low) is a new Seattle-based rock band fronted by Rocky Votolato. After the devastating loss of his child in a tragic car accident, Votolato created an entire new world inside of music that transmutes extreme grief into something healing and beautiful. The result is Suzzallo’s debut album, The Quiet Year, an explosive eulogy of fuzzed-out, ‘90s inspired alt-rock songs that are as anthemic as they are cathartic.

Sonically, Suzzallo is somewhat of a return to form for Votolato. He’s primarily known for his solo career, with nine albums that showcase his knack for intimate, acoustic-based indie folk, but Votolato started out playing in louder bands, like Waxwing, who gained an underground cult following in the mid-2000s Pacific Northwest punk and hardcore scene. Suzzallo’s music taps into that same spirit: blistering guitars, soaring choruses, and poignantly impactful lyrics–all with a volume and fervent intensity that far surpasses even the fiercest of Votolato’s previous work. But Suzzallo’s powerhouse sound is more than an artistic choice, it’s a necessity.

“I guess it all started to take shape in the summer of 2022, about six months after Kienan passed,” Votolato explains. “I knew I needed a louder, bigger, more explosive sound to say what I needed to with this project. This kind of personal tragedy rearranges everything about you as a human and artist. I needed a new channel to express what I was going through and the only thing that made any sense to me were the most distorted guitar sounds I could find–I was doing months of primal screaming as a form of grief recovery before I was ever even able to sing at all, so that played into the vocal delivery as well.” The songs that became Suzzallo’s debut confront the shattering weight of grief head on, while also revealing an uplifting strength and determination to carry on beneath it–not so much a reinvention as a reincarnation. “I was completely shattered and knocked down by this loss, but I feel like Suzzallo is a big part of getting back on my feet and finding a reason to keep going,” says Votolato. “I’m so grateful for the way creating art has helped me process my grief and heal, and I hope these songs can bring some catharsis and comfort to others now as well.”

To make The Quiet Year, Votolato was joined by a team of friends and collaborators. Suzzallo’s lineup was rounded out by bassist Steve Bonnell (Schoolyard Heroes) and drummer Rudy Gajadhar (Waxwing), and they recruited legendary producer John Goodmanson (Unwound, The Blood Brothers, Sleater-Kinney) to record the album at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle. Votolato’s longtime friend Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service is even featured on several songs, lending his signature vocals to beautifully placed harmonies, along with performing electric guitar, bass 6, and piano.

On the massive opening one-two punch of “River” and “The Destroyer” Suzzallo introduce their core sound: fuzz-drenched, Pumpkins-esque guitar tones juxtaposed with moving lyric-driven melodies. It’s a highly effective combination that demands the listener’s full attention and doesn’t let go. “I love those ‘90s distorted guitar tones and they were a big comfort to me,” Votolato says. “It’s almost like when Kienan died I immediately was transported back to all of my earliest punk and post-hardcore influences, bands like Jawbreaker, Drive Like Jehu, and Fugazi. Full catharsis was my goal so those were definitely in there, but there was something new as well–something more melody and chorus-driven while keeping that high energy 90’s approach at the same time.”

Lyrically, the songs on The Quiet Year are intensely honest portraits of an impossible to describe loss. They’re marked by Votolato’s vulnerability and details that honor his child (such as recurring images of dragons), and throughout the record the singer always manages to deliver heartrending lyrics through bold, well-crafted hooks. It’s a magic trick that somehow makes lines like “no one told us love was this dangerous” (from mid-album standout “Star String Radio”), or “You became the sky, the grey and the white, against the blue, I hope you’re doing alright” (from “Constellations”) all the more effective.

The music that makes up Suzzallo’s debut is more than enough to turn heads based on sound alone. These are truly massive, earth-shaking rock songs, the kind that make your skull rattle while filling it up with instantly memorable hooks. But they’re more than that. They’re also the kind of songs that needed to be made. The kind of songs that fulfill their cathartic purpose before they even go out into the world. But lucky for us they’re also the kind of songs that need to be heard.