Silverstein 'A Beautiful Place To Drown' – a review

Band: Silverstein

Album title: A Beautiful Place To Drown

Label: UNFD

Release date: 03/06/2020

Track list:

Bad Habits (feat. Intervals)
Burn It Down (feat. Caleb Shomo)
Where Are You
Infinite (feat. Aaron Gillespie)
Shape Shift
All On Me
Madness (feat. Princess Nokia)
Say Yes
Stop
September 14th
Coming Down
Take What You Give (feat. Pierre Bouvier)

Just a few days ago Silverstein finished their 20 year anniversary tour through Europe and the UK. Many shows have been sold out or at least they’ve been close. Check this link for a review on the Munich show:

https://musicjunkiepress.com/tour/silverstein-celebrate-their-20-year-anniversary-live-in-munich-at-the-backstage/

In less than one week the Canadian band will release their 10^th studio record ‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’, the debut on their new label UNFD.

While many bands would take their 20 year anniversary to rest on their laurels of nostalgia, Silverstein (Shane Told (voc), Paul Marc Rousseau (git), Josh Bradford (git), Billy Hamilton (bass) and Paul Koehler (dr)) take this as a time to reflect on how far they’ve come and at the same time use the years of experience to channel something new. Rousseau explains: “For me, it’s the best way to honor the anniversary by doing what got us thus far. To be adventurous has always been a part of what characterizes the band – we concentrate on us moving forward.”

With their new record ‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’ Silverstein again show the variety of their music – from post-hardcore through emo to punk. You’ll find every element on that album. Though compared to their earlier records, ‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’ is more pop-punk, less post-hardcore, which isn’t necessarily a negative thing though. The tracks are catchy, have that certain drive with explosive riffs, driving rhythm sections and occasional scream parts. Songs like ‘Burn It Down’ and ‘Infinite’ have already shown their potential for sing-alongs live.

The songs also introduce the lyrical motives of the album: an exploration of the mental pressure, that, in a world which has to struggle with the personal and social challenges of modern life, seems to be unavoidable. Rousseau explains: “Everywhere you look, people have to deal with these controlling, invisible forces like anxiety and depression. It can even be suffocating phenomena.” Told adds: “Everything that happens in the world can affect your mental state and this fight is so obvious and tangible, that it found it’s way into the songs.” Songs like “Shape Shift” and “September 14th” deal with the powerlessness towards those that abuse their position of power, while “Infinite” and “Madness” talk about the tribute of mental illnesses and the vicious circles, that could aggravate them.

On the new record, the band finds a skillful balance between their core sound and their natural growth as songwriters and evolving inspirations. “We have so many fans, that have been there from the beginning and have grown up with us, but at the same time we have new people, that get on board with every album,” Told explains. “We really try to find a way, to satisfy the people, that have been there from the beginning and at the same time keep a modern aspect to our work.” The trust within the band makes this kind of thorough songwriting-alchemy possible. “Everyone has established his role,” Koehler says. “And we trust each other in these roles.” Rousseau, the “newest” member of Silverstein (he joined in 2012 after working for four years as a guitar tech for the band), found his tasks as a songwriter and his enthusiasm, to push the band into new territories, constantly growing. “The only clear goal that I have, when I start to write, is not to repeat myself,” he says. “That far in our career, I felt a lot of freedom, because we had such a big back-catalog.”

Four songs of ‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’ have so far been released – Infinite, Bad Habit, Burn It Down and Madness. All of them feature artists from either bands, they’ve been friends with for a long time, like Aaron Gillespie from Underoath and Caleb Shomo from Beartooth, but also more recent ones like Aaron Marshall from Interval and Princess Nokia. They show the band’s ability to gain listeners from other music-worlds. “I think people are less interested in labels or genres than ever before,” Told states. “We have always been ok, that emo can be so many different things and from the beginning we wanted our band to bend and widen genres.”

The willingness to go their own way has been an essential part of the last 20 years of Silverstein. ‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’ proves once more, that the one of a kind compass of the band tells the truth. “I think, we always had to prove something to us,” says Koehler. “If you lose that, you go packing. But we always have goals, things, we want to achieve or improve,” Told laughs. “I don’t know, how other bands work, but I am still in my highschool-band!” But looking at what they achieved and what there is to come, he joins Koehlers feeling: “Today, it’s complicated to measure success, but we still make, what we consider our best music. It’s nice to know we survived and we did that in a manner that feels right.”

‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’ will be released this Friday. Stream, download or even better, buy it!

Silverstein’s anniversary tour through North America and Canada has already started. Make sure to catch them live and experience an awesome and probably once-in-a-lifetime set of new songs, acoustic tracks and a playthrough of ‘Discovering The Waterfront’. Still lots of chances left….#