Music: Emo/Hardcore
Country: USA
Website: www.silversteinmusic.com
Duration: 39.29
Cool Songs: Defend You, Your Sword vs My Dagger, My Heroine, Always & Never
Just like any other style of heavy, guitar drive music, the emo/hardcore scene also has its bottomless well. Theres the impressive (Eighteen Visions, Anberlin), the ordinary (Hopesfall, Roses are Red) and the countless others that fall somewhere in the middle. To that ever growing list you can add Canadian quintet Silverstein.
Formed in 2000 in Burlington on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario Silverstein have already released 2 DYI EPs and after clinching a contract with the ubiquitous Victory label they released their first album ;When Broken is Easily Fixed. Apparently it has sold in excess of 200,000 copies. Oh yes doubting Thomas, this shit sells. It doesnt necessarily mean that what Silverstein does is any good, but it does show that the market for well conceived melodic emo/core is maaaasssssiiivvveeee!! Ive no doubt that this new sophomore effort Discovering the Waterfront will be just as profitable for the band (and label for that matter).
At this point it is important to note that Silverstein does absolutely nothing new in terms of emo/hardcore. They simply do it pretty well. Of course, you need to be fan of this style to appreciate the overtly melodic and blatant commercial appeal of this album. Discovering.. via the production hands of Cameron Webb (Motorheard. Social Distortion etc) is very much aimed at gaining its fair share of the radio market. Certainly, it is far less screamo oriented than the debut, and whilst vocalist Shane Told employs said style throughout this disc its much more sporadic. Told spends much of his time in the cleaner register and as such there is a real air of listener friendliness associated with many of their compositions. Silverstein are nowhere near as light as Hawthorn Heights and certainly the more up tempo numbers like Defend You, Your Sword vs My Dagger, My Heroine and Always & Never exude a most appreciative line of energy and feigned aggression. Sadly, theres not enough of it.
The big problem with this is that it doesnt really have any overwhelming identity to set it apart from their peers. Play this to the unsuspecting punter and hed be hard pressed to tell you who it was. Granted, Discovering.. offers itself up as a fairly mature and well constructed emo/hardcore album yet, it just doesnt have the song writing depth to be anything more than solid. As much as Silverstein aim to blur the lines between emo/melodic punk and Hardcore, in the end Discovering actually sounds rather generic. For fans of the emo/hardcore style, theres probably a heap to like about Silverstein, unfortunately I need a little more convincing.
note: 6/10
Tracklist
1. My Sword Versus Your Dagger
2. Smile In Your Sleep
3. Ides Of March, The
4. Fist Wrapped In Blood
5. Discovering The Waterfront
6. Defend You
7. My Heroine
8. Always And Never
9. Already Dead
10. Three Hours Back
11. Call It Karma
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