Review Summary: Epic metalcore that is ferocius. I suck at intros.
To be honest, I don't know much about Massachusetts. I've never been there although I have family there. I do know this. Massachusetts has been a hot bed of activity towards the music scene for as long as I’ve known. Metal, hardcore and Punk have dominated over the years with their driven style of play and numerous quality bands that seem to pop out of there. Metal has been lead by the likes of Overcast since the early beginnings and gradually passed the torch to Shadows Fall. The punk scene has stayed strong primarily to Irish punk ring masters, "Dropkick Murphy’s", and "Flogging Molly. Hardcore has seen a huge re emergence in Boston thanks to such ferocious acts, "Bury Your Dead" and "The Acacia Strain". Ferocity that they have borrowed from local metal core masters "Converge". Converge seemed to have left quite an impact on the scene, inspiring many young metal bands to get to their feet and play searing music. "Diecast, "Killswitch Engage", and "Unearth" have left a huge dent upon the metal scene. How Massachusetts got blessed with such a strong music scene, is beyond me. Maybe it was that little tea incident in the past that ended in a riot and death. All I know is this. This state has a lot of aggression.
Burn In Silence is a young metal core band that has spawned out of Boston. They merge many different elements form the Metal world around the basic metal core structure of which they play. Elements of many bands can be heard throughout while still managing to find a niche of their own. The chorus of one of the numerous highlights "The Age In Which Tomorrow Brings " has a slight feel of past Fear Factory. The ferocity of Converge can be heard throughout the rabid guitar work, pounding drums, and vocal work. The guitars are heavily influenced by the Gothenburg sound, thats not necessarily a bad thing though. The drumming recalls of death metal's greats with great speed and diversity . Together, the band are a tight unit, writing songs that are extremely catchy yet still maintaining their extreme metal roots.
At a whole, the guitar structure has the essence of some of Sweden's finest. They still incorporate plenty of American groove into their music, cementing a base of fast and technical riffing before dropping into crushing breakdowns. The breakdowns are played at top level and used to full effect when the song merges with the keyboard work. The breakdowns are structured well and leave a crushing impact that many bands are not capable of pulling correctly. This is because the keyboard work intermingles with the guitars, leaving a haunting and somewhat dramatic effect upon the listener. Ben Schulkin's keyboard work relays from ominous tones to symphonic passages, adding a black metal feel to the environment. There is some occasional piano work as shown in excellence to the ending of "Watching Dead Leaves Fall" Drumming is stellar thanks Darren Cesca. The double bass patterns are extremely fast and the blast beats are hard hitting and full of thickness. As the tempo begins to shift slower, Darren still lies down a lot of cool patterns and fills. Vocals are presented well here. Chris's primary tone revolves around a hardcore growl then switching to his clean voice. His harsh voice is full of aggression and strength that many vocalist's lack. Loud and forceful, the voice demands attention from those that listen. As a clean vocalist, Chris is solid. Never emitting any sort of a whine, his voice has power, making the choruses big and booming. Bass is not heard often, as it plays little part in the musical mayhem.
Wrapping all this together, the production is strong and captures each moment with precision. Drum patterns are crisp and clear and the guitar work is buzzing with groove. The keyboard work is pristine, at times recalling of symphonic giants, "Dimmu Borgir". Vocal work is produced to the best as possible. Ken Susi has done a great job manning the oars and solidified his credentials with this album. This disks proof that Massachusetts is still capable of churning out quality metal. Each song has their own unique personality that helps stand out from the others. No two songs sound alike. Some rely more on the keyboards, and some rely more on the basic instruments. In the end, “Burn In Silence” has the ability to create well structured songs that are as catchy as they are heavy.
"Burn In Silence" has released a metal core album to be proud of. Standing out from everyone else and trying to add new elements to an already over crowded genre, they succeed with this fine debut that surpasses most aggressive music that is being produced today. While not as well known as some of the more popular keyboard driven metal bands like "The Devil Wears Prada" or "Bleeding Through", they manage to one up their peers and deliver an album that tops anything those bands have ever accomplished. Fans of metal in general will find something to enjoy about this album as this is not your typical run of the mill metal core band that's sponsored by Hot Topic.
Pros:
Solid instrumentation
Accessible, heavy yet melodic.
Unrelenting, much harder than your typical metal core band these days.
Strong vocals, clean and harsh.
Cons:
Swedish guitars are quite abused.
Could be more diversity between the verse to chorus transition.
Chris Harrel- Clean/Harsh Vocals.
Alex Glassman- Guitar
Max Lavelle- Bass
Darren Cesca- Drums
Ben Schulking- Keyboards
thanks for the recommendation.
