In today’s music industry it is difficult to lambast a band for sticking to their guns. With the ever-changing nature of alternative music, bands come and go as their sound fades along with the expiration of their five-minutes of fame. Yet, every so often, a sound becomes universal enough that bands can build a career around it. Such is the formula comprised of emotion-dripping, guitar-powered, pop-tinged post-hardcore. That formula has worked for the past decade or so, with little variation on the ingredients. Look no further than Burlington, Ontario quintet, Silverstein, for an example of a band that has made that formula into a decade-long career. With the release of their fifth album, Rescue, Silverstein offer up yet another dose of the familiar post-hardcore formula.
Silverstein’s Rescue can be split into two categories: tremendous, fervent tracks and simple filler. To be fair, Rescue has more of the former, but the latter rears its ugly head way too often to consider Rescue a consistent release. Rescue’s opener, “Medication,” builds slowly before drummer Paul Koehler blasts the track into the stratosphere and vocalist Shane Told lays out spine-tingling screams to compliment his pop-punkish clean vocals. Told’s screams are superior throughout Rescue, despite this album having the fewest screams of any Silverstein release. “Sacrifice” follows, opening with a signature guitar rift by lead guitarist, Neil Boshart. The track is sure to induce body-smashing and head-banging, reminding the listener of fellow post-hardcore veterans, Thrice, circa 2004. These two songs most definitely fall into the “tremendous and fervent” category.
Silverstein falters when Told abandons his blood-curdling screams. Songs such as “Good Luck With Your Lives” and “Replace You” are generic and flat-out boring. The former puts Told’s lyrics and clean vocals on center stage as he offers up a rather immature and unimaginative chorus: “I hear your whispers calling me // I will turn away // Just like a hunter you will prey // Prey on me.” The latter starts off rather promising but disappoints as the chorus hits as well. The tune builds and builds, but the chorus is a letdown of emotion. It is a rather insipid song that would have been better suited as a b-side. The worst track on Rescue is unquestionably “Darling Harbour.” Originally found on Silverstein’s Transition EP, “Darling Harbour” is just a substandard song. It is a track that one would expect from We The Kings, not from a respectable band such as Silverstein. Perhaps “Darling Harbour” was a reach for mainstream success, but it comes off as a pitiful pop track that is worthy of only one listen.
Yet, when Silverstein expands their sound and attempts to hit harder, they tend to strike the bull’s-eye. “Texas Mickley,” “The Artist,” and “Live To Kill” are the standout tracks on Rescue. All three are heavy and fast, showing off Boshart’s and Koehler’s talents. “Texas Mickley” has a sweet guitar rift as Told’s brutal screams compliment his clean vocals flawlessly. Bayside’s Anthony Raneri makes a smartly placed guest appearance at the end of the track that puts a definitive period on “Texas Mickley.” “The Artist” follows with Told absolutely destroying the song with his brutal screams as Koehler’s frantic drumming anchors everything down. “Live To Kill” finds one of the lyrical gems on Rescue, as Told sings “It is safe to say to forget your name // When the song I wrote’s on the stereo // I don’t have to justify // Paying your dues is a waste of precious time.”
Rescue, for all intent and purpose, is a decent album. In a year where Scene compatriots Bayside and Emery released albums, it is only appropriate for Silverstein to give their fanbase another reason to believe. Yet that does not excuse them from the fact that Rescue is riddled with filler that weighs down the several excellent tracks sprinkled throughout. The comparisons between Bayside and Silverstein may seem difficult to identify on the surface, but the two groups suffer from the same issue on their 2011 releases: staleness. Just as Bayside’s Killing Time was decent but bearing a boring feeling of “been-there-done-that,” Rescue is respectable but offers nothing new. Perhaps Silverstein needs to take a page out of Emery’s playbook and switch things up for album #6.
***/*****
*This review was composed by Mike Meeze
