Album Overview: SILENT PLANET Superbloom

Because the band’s inception, Silent Planet has stood out within the Stable State Information roster with conceptual depth, deadly songwriting chops, and a drive to maintain their tackle progressive metalcore exterior of expectation. The Azuza exports have supplied footnotes of their lyric sheets to contextualize their lyrics, and produce a eager sense of melody to their djent-ish shred-fests. The digital flavors on Superbloom showcase a need to remain up with the instances, however by no means does that make it one other occasion of Architects copycat-ism. Silent Planet takes some critical probabilities this time round, however by no means compromises their subject material or musicality.

Uneventful ambient items like “Lights off the Misplaced Coast” and “Reentry” apart, the artificial gildings of Superbloom lengthen previous gimmicky interludes. “Offworlder” finds Silent Planet diverting its detuned syncopated breakdowns with moody industrial home music vibes. However even then, the track construction does not fall into the verse-chorus trope of style mixing. Hanging synth leads discover their method into the Meshuggah-style drops, whereas chunky rhythms beef up the pulsating techno. It simply goes to indicate that style mashing is simply nearly as good because the musicians concerned.

To that impact, “Collider” comes by means of with some propulsive breakbeats and virtually trip-hoppy hypnosis in between and an electrifying refrain. The distinction between transient electronica and gargantuan breakdowns is sort of frustratingly tasteful. Equally, the usage of vocoder manipulations, percussive subdivisions, and swaying synth patches of “Antimatter” really enhances the pre-existing association. Silent Planet did not merely write the same old batch of songs, after which hand it off to the producer so as to add the bells and whistles. Having Dan Braunstein (Spiritbox, Erra) behind the blending board actually helps, however sarcastically his contact feels extra current when the songs come full circle again to uneven chug riffs. 

Silent Planet additionally hasn’t misplaced their sense of scope, even through the freneticness of “:Sign:” and “Anunnaki.” The previous’s vitality manifests in mathematical skronk, whereas the latter’s by means of punkish adrenaline (to not point out the drum-and-bass underpinnings main as much as the pit-starting backside string abuse). In each instances, lush soundscapes not solely elevate an already-great track, but additionally expands the album’s narrative cross-section of supernatural, science fiction and existentialism. These themes come throughout potently however usually distill right down to blunt emotion. You do not have to be a college graduate to get chills from strains like “As my thoughts is shattering and the explanations to remain abandon me/ I am going to survive one loss of life at a time/ Thеre is nowhere lеft to fall.”

Past style experiments, Superbloom finds the uncooked necessities of Silent Planet as very important as ever. “Euphoria” not solely has one in all vocalist Garrett Russell‘s most melodious choruses ever, but additionally one of many band’s most devastating breakdowns. In cuts like these, the artificial parts play extra for environment than hooks, letting Russell and Nick Pocock‘s guitars communicate for itself on “Dreamwalker,” from arena-ready bounce riffs to jagged arpeggios. There’s even some raspy mutterings to carry a moodiness to the earth-splitting half-time riff change through the track’s midsection. In an method usually tormented by forgettable wankery, there’s all the time a motif to chew on for lengthy after a observe concludes.

The album’s deeper cuts let off not one of the inventive thrust, displaying how particular Silent Planet really is. The crescendo from shimmering math-rock to seismic string bends in “The Overgrowth” is one in all cinematic proportion and emotional ferocity. Maybe it is simply refreshing to listen to a band with any memory of the “djent” motion ship a precocious outing like “Nexus.” Drummer Alex Camerena drives his bandmates by means of a plethora of punishing beats… tight, however not robotic. It is also clear that he had a hand in creating the digital beats, as the best way that track’s breakcore bridge evolves from serene singing to a bulldozing, deliciously stripped-down mosh riff. These guys write stuff that is enjoyable to take heed to, progressive, electro-acoustic, or in any other case.

At 39 minutes, Superbloom is hardly an indulgent show from Silent Planet. It really displays the precise superbloom occasion. Like a concentrated, emphatic burst of colourful flowers, the title observe emerges from the prog-core ether with sweeping dynamics and multi-layered association—all of the whereas sustaining a surprisingly accessible alt-rock undercurrent. It is so soothing, that the ultimate build-up turns into each stunning and fluid in execution.

In a profession marked by sensible inventive choices, it is good to listen to Silent Planet‘s newest album accomplish greater than being “the one with digital stuff in it.” It occurs to be higher than many latest makes an attempt at this cross-pollination with metalcore, the reason is Silent Planet has nothing to compensate for. They’re nonetheless writing strong tunes. So long as they’re doing that, the sky is the restrict so far as what kinds they will incorporate.