Seventeen years and nine albums in, Silverstein are back with new studio album Dead Reflection, but can it show us anything new?
The emo/punk/hardcore quintet from Canada have been on the scene since the turn of the millenium. With only one line-up change in their history, they certainly have a stake in solidarity than most bands of this size couldn’t lay claim to. Despite having a myriad of influences, can the band break the mould of previous albums and still produce truly original material?
Last Looks is the opening track of the album and the song opens right up into a screamo-punk crescendo. There’s a lot more channelled anger here than in previous works by the band, it shows that after 17 years together, they’ve managed to mature and not stay totally pigeon-holed. As a longtime fan, it’s good to see. Later in the album with Aquamarine and The Afterglow, the band remind us that punk isn’t all aggression, with the more NOFX-styled tracks.
As the first lead single of the album, Retrograde, along with Whiplash, is more along the post-hardcore route that the band is known to tread, even if they can’t keep pace with bands such as Enter Shikari in this genre they bring their punkier side with them and give it a less brutal, although still heavy spin to their take on it.
Dead Reflection is the ninth studio album by Canadian rock band Silverstein
Three tracks in and we’ve seen a real spread over the genres that the band has tackled over their impressive nine studio album run. Lost Positives is a throwback to their emo/screamo roots and the long-fringed teen in me is very happy (well, as happy as an inner emo teen can be) to hear that they’ve not lost the ability to channel their angst over the years. The lo-fi thundering bass and rhythm guitars underline the screaming and emotional vocals complemented by the higher pitched lead guitar making for a modern day emo anthem.
Not content to stray too far from the winning formula straight away, Ghost, the first announced single from the album follows straight on. With emo-typical lyrics like ‘drowning in silent seas, you’d said you’d never leave’ you’d not be wrong expecting a miserable song, but the band manages to weave their more energetic post-hardcore thrashes and screams throughout the song to keep the energy going despite melancholy lyrics. It’s a highly charged song, and definitely got a few replays from me.
As the album progresses, the songs start to blend genres more and more. With tracks such as Mirror Box, Demons and Cut And Run showing the band managing to use their experience to their advantage to use techniques and influences from punk, scream and hardcore to create a more signature sound to Silverstein with fewer signals from the influences they’ve quoted in years past. Seventeen years in, it really feels like the band is hitting their stride more and more.
For me, and the aforementioned inner emo teen, Secret’s Safe is the standout track of the album. It’s an emotional ballad of a song that structures the evocative vocals right at the fore of the track with heavier, distorted guitars and a slow but well-paced drums in the background keeping a melodic backing track to the heartfelt song.
The final track, Wake Up, is in fairness, a misleading name. The song lowers the pace from all of the previous tracks making for a longer, more complex track that moves from gentle picked strings, to thundering down-tuned guitars and pounded drums to punctuate the switches in style. It feels very individual and hopefully, will be a sign of music to come from the band.
Overall, after nine albums, the band knows how to produce an album well, Dead Reflection is no different here. The songs are well-engineered and well-polished. Whilst there isn’t a weak moment in the album, there aren’t too many tracks that jump out and make you notice them. However, as the band seems to be gaining even more of their own identity this far in, we can only hope that it’s onwards and upwards from here.
Author: Steve, Southgate store
