Silverstein – A Shipwreck in the Sand
Victory Records (3/31/09)
Alternative rock / Metal
Behold Silverstein’s finest hour.
On their fourth full-length studio album, the band goes the concept route, turning in A Shipwreck in the Sand, 14 tracks split into four chapters (playing out like a double-LP for those old enough to remember actual records). The concept, as it were, is the destruction of a relationship, revolving around the couple’s house burning down. Their history, courtship and ultimate betrayal plays through the songs, the only curveball being the title track, which offers up the at first seemingly out-of-place tale of a ship captain whose loyal crew has been beaten down by the journey and eventually revolts. In hindsight, the allegory is fairly clear.
It’s not the story though, that makes this Silverstein’s best outing. Instead, it’s the overall musicianship the band has been able to cultivate over their career. While they could have easily been lumped in with the rest of the dual-vocalist screamo bands that popped up in the early part of the decade, Silverstein offered a little something more. The clear vocals were just melodic enough, and the groove in the guitar work just deep enough, that the band managed to stand out and craft a sound uniquely its own (when you hear a Silverstein song, you can immediately tell it’s Silverstein).
On this album, everything that made the band unique—each element of its sound and approach to songwriting—seems to have been ratcheted up a notch or 10. Just listen to “American Dream” with its balladic opening that gives way to a hardcore dirge (the spark) that the band is more than willing to douse with enough melody (the fuel) to start, well, a house fire. That driving, hook-laden guitar work pops up in every song, but this time out the band looks to rely on a lot of solid bass work, too, to push the songs forward (check out “You‘re All I Have”).
And Silverstein’s hardcore side is starting to drift toward Atreyu territory, without the obvious rock influence. The vocals, which occasionally had the potential to grate on listeners in past efforts, seem a lot more restrained (finally). And surprisingly, even when someone like Scott Wade (Comeback Kid) shows up for a guest spot (on “Born Dead“), it only accentuates the band’s vocal efforts, instead of overshadowing things.
They also plays around with an ethereal element on some of the songs (the interlude “Their Lips Sink Ships” or the opening portion of the title track), creating an almost dreamlike mood, to be destroyed by the explosive follow-ups (the grinding “I Knew I Couldn’t Trust You” or the blistering “I Am The Arsonist”).
Ultimately, what the band has done a fantastic job of here, is creating a series of moods, dragging the listener on a musical journey through the heartache, betrayal, vengeance and angst—weighty matters to be sure—that are tempered with a lighter mood in the music’s melody. That said, a fitting crescendo to this is album closer “The End”, an acoustic duet with female vocalist Lights, which weaves a tale of redemption and inevitability and apology, with a nice coda featuring a throwback to the earlier tale of the ship captain.
This is, hands down, Silverstein’s best effort yet, and easily a contender for album of the year.
