Album Reviews

- by Christian Hartnett

This was, without a doubt, the most enjoyable album listening experience I’ve had in years. I’m not exaggerating.

Full disclosure here: I once considered myself the biggest Silverstein fan out there.

Silverstein made their entrance into the emo/screamo/post-hardcore/whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene in the early 2000s, right around the time I was in high school. The whole vibe of that genre connected with me. I loved the heavy-hitting breakdowns, the powerful screams interspersed with melodic vocals, the contrast of beauty and harshness in the music. It was the perfect cocktail of sound for my hormone-fueled self at the time. Silverstein was the very best at satisfying my musical appetite. If their debut album “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” was an appetizer, their sophomore album “Discovering the Waterfront” was the equivalent of a 80-ounce filet mignon. I was sold: BEST BAND EVER. I stayed loyal and listened to their next two albums, “Arrivals & Departures” and “Shipwreck in the Sand”, but then fell off the Silverstein train. Actually, I fell off that whole music genre altogether.

Silverstein’s upcoming album “Dead Reflection” is already the band's eighth album. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. Maybe some pleasant nostalgia, but not much more. Damn, was I wrong. “Dead Reflection” is easily the best Silverstein album since “Discovering the Waterfront”. The Silverstein sound is still there, but it’s a matured, more-refined sound.

The album starts off with plenty of energy. Throughout the first four tracks, I was beginning to think Silverstein had completely abandoned their softer side and gone completely heavy. Lead singer Shane Told still brings the pretty pipes to the table, but his screams have drastically improved since the band’s early days. And he isn’t afraid to use them in this album, much to my delight.

But “Dead Reflection” isn’t all about the hard stuff though. The album only gets better as you listen on. The album is filled with a surprising amount of variety. “Aquamarine” and “The Afterglow” have more of a pop-punk vibe to them, while “Mirror Box” and “Whiplash” land more on the post-hardcore side. There are catchy hooks, head-banging breakdowns, and a beautifully somber finale track. All you can possibly want in an album.

In the aforementioned finale track “Wake Up”, Told intensely shouts at the end, “all I am is a dead reflection”. But with this album, Silverstein has proven they are still very much alive.

Track listing:

1. Last Looks
2. Retrograde
3. Lost Positives
4. Ghost
5. Aquamarine
6. Mirror Box
7. Demons
8. The Afterglow
9. Cut and Run
10. Secret's Safe
11. Whiplash
12. Wake Up