Album Review
Silent Mass – ‘The Great Chaos’ [Album Review]
There’s a luscious moody, interdimensional sensation to Silent Mass’ new album ‘The Great Chaos,’ eliciting an eerie, alluring attraction.
Impelled by the otherworldly voice of singer-songwriter Ammo Bankoff, Silent Mass’ new album, The Great Chaos, transports listeners into the outer, cryptic areas of consciousness, channelling thoughts of awareness, self-forgiveness, disquiet, and tilted emotions.
Silent Mass began as Bankoff’s solo project. After the 2020 release of “Total Recall” as part of the compilation Do You Feel That Way Too? A Tribute to Adrian Borland & The Sound, Bankoff and guitarist Robert Duncan moved to New York City to join drummer/producer Alex Posell.
Blending elusive elements of post-punk, shoegaze, dark dream-pop, and goth, Silent Mass dropped two singles, “Rose + Crown” and “A Cold War City” in 2021.
Entry points on this new eight-track album include “Black Wing,” at once full of shadows accented by luminous, drifting guitars atop a primal, syncopated rhythm. Bankoff’s spectral vocals imbue the lyrics with the dove-grey haze of distance, vaguely reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan.
A personal favourite because of its tribal rhythm, “Land of Heart’s Desire” highlights the ethereal vocals of Bankoff, like a Siren wishing she was somewhere else. It’s a voice both elegant and edgy, a voice that beckons listeners into a faraway realm.
The dystopian feel of “A Cold War City” summons up murky memories, as if floating across an ashen landscape full of titanic ruins. Misty, tendril-like tones infuse the harmonics with a clinging milieu that refuses to be discarded.
“Illusions Of Sorrow” reveals the sad musings of an introspective Medusa, meditating on her gloomy fate. Vibrating textures ride a dread-laced rhythmic pulse as Bankoff’s brooding, ghostly vocals evoke a delicious, cloying ambiance of extra-suspensory perception.
There’s a luscious, moody, interdimensional sensation to The Great Chaos, eliciting an eerie, alluring attraction.
The Great Chaos Track Listing:
1. Rose + Crown
2. Black Wing
3. Land of Heart’s Desire
4. The Great Chaos
5. Pale Shade
6. Nest Of Flowers
7. A Cold War City
8. Illusions Of Sorrow
Run Time: 37:20
Release Date: June 20, 2024
Record Label: Independent