Not really the case. Gold and silver fell in the last recession. Look at the charts. It's not until after the recession, in 2011-2012 they peaked.
I didn't mean gold and silver prices would spike in the middle of a recession, I meant as a result of one. My reasoning is that after a recession many people lose trust in government issue paper money, and turn to precious metals, that might explain the spike and peak in the years after the initial recession. It makes sense prices would fall during a recession, as people would be selling off precious metals to stay afloat, and less people would be willing to invest in precious metals.