Silent Planet – “The Night God Slept” [Album Review]

Silent Planet isn’t particularly silent. Quite the opposite, actually, in the most delightful, metalcore way. First of all, have you heard of Silent Planet before? I, for one, had not, and if I was given the duty to go back in time, using a time traveling machine that actually works, obviously – I’m not silly, and explain to myself what Silent Planet sounds like using some key words, assuming that the space-time vortex would stay open for only a few brief moments for the sake of being dramatic: Solid State Records, Rory from Dayseeker plus 4 other features, harsh-yelly-AND clean vocals, staccato metal riffs, and ethereal guitar leads. *while portal closes* “AND THE PRODUCTION IS AMAzinggggggggggggggggg…” *light flashes and the world ends ’cause I try to catch a quick selfie with past Henry (me), which is against the rules of this very accurate account of how time travel works.

I was recently asked this question in regards to another band of this genre: “But, are they unique?” That question isn’t as cut and dry as it may at first appear. Many aspects of Silent Planet are similar to what is current in the “metalcore” genre. The guitars have heavy gain and are highly processed, in the sense that they’re perfect. The same goes for just about every aspect of this album’s production. I, personally, wouldn’t have it any other way, but some have argued with me. The screams are very well performed, and the clean vocal hooks are exceptional, so from the production side of things, this album is not “unique” per se in the sense that there is no unusual instrumentation or random elephant noises. The writing, however, I would argue is unique to this band, and writing trumps everything else every other day of the week. Why every other? Space-time, that’s why.

The dynamics over the courses of songs on this album make for some of the most beautiful transitions I can remember for this year. Pounding guitar riffs fade into clean(er), post-hardcorey guitar parts woven with ethereal synth pads where drum patterns come and go, bringing the song back together with vocal harmonies and screams crescendo-ing (word?) into another masterful pass of the chorus, where riffs are mixed in with guitar chords that hold and crush with odd rhythms. So, long story short: if you’re a connoisseur of aggressive rock/metal music, you will find the songwriting attention grabbing. If you’re NOT a such a connoisseur, go back in time and fix that.

Track Listing:

01. The Well
02. XX (City Grave)
03. I Drowned In The Desert
04. Native Blood
05. Tiny Hands (Au Revoir)
06. firstwake
07. Darkstrand (Hibakusha)
08. First Mother (Lilith)
09. To Thirst For The Sea
10. Wasteland
11. Depths II

Run Time: 32:43
Release Date: November 10, 2014

Check out the song “The Well”