Silverstein - A Shipwreck in the Sand (Album)
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Silverstein’s latest offering, A Shipwreck in the Sand, is just now drifting into shores around Australia. The album is an interesting one, a concept album dealing with a bleak world where people act with for the wrong reasons. Hence the house on fire image on the front cover. Musically, it is an energetic celebration of all that is both emo and hardcore – a rare breed. A great one to give you some energy in the morning!
Silverstein are a five-piece ‘post-hardcore’ (if you don’t mind...) band out of Canada. They have been around since about 2000, and A Shipwreck in the Sand is their fourth offering to date. For those long-time Silverstein fans, the album was produced by Cameron Webb, who also produced second album Discovering the Waterfront, and so these two albums are more similar. Silverstein recently came to Australia on the back of the Soundwave beast, and are going to be on tour supporting the latest album for quite a while longer.
As far as the music goes, Silverstein have come out a lot more emo on this album than on previous works; lead singer Shane’s voice has reached new whiny pitches, and this is echoed in the trends of the guitar work. The bass is low and dirty, giving some real feeling to the music, and the drums provide a lovely frenetic pace in most songs. Indeed, that is the aspect which was most evident to me on a casual listening; the beat was really bouncing up on most of these songs.
A Shipwreck in the Sand seems to be a lot more mosh-worthy music. It’s easy to imagine the fans catching the latest shows, er, McLovin it. That said, there is also a reasonable amount of quiet, soft work in the record. Silverstein really have mixed the album up. Song Their Lips Sink Ships is a very quiet, short piece with muted chorus singing over soft guitar and drum sounds, and Silverstein have done well to make it sound reminiscent of a tide (or at least I hope that’s the purpose).
Then there’s title track A Shipwreck in the Sand which starts with a quick narration of the concept behind the album, from the website www.ashipwreckinthesand.com. This could very well be the album Silverstein are looking for to pull hordes of new fans. There is something for everyone in this mix. Well, everyone who likes either hardcore, emo, or heavy rock at least; if you’re pop-based, or conversely, heavy metal only, stay away from this work. But for the rest of us, an enjoyable mix indeed. ‘A Shipwreck in the Sand’ floats.
