Silverstein - Arrivals &Departures

Tue 17th Jul, 2007 in Music Reviews

Arrivals & Departures marks the third full length release for Silverstein, a Canadian hybrid punk/hardcore five piece. The full length had a lot of expectations riding on it, being voted one of Alternative Press’ most anticipated releases of 2007 by their readers. Trying not to disappoint, they enlisted the help of Mark Trombino for producing, engineering and mixing duties, the man responsible for highly acclaimed albums from the likes of Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World.

Sound of the Sun opens up the proceedings with throat-shredding screams, guitars palm-muting their way into pop-punk sounds once thought to be long lost and left behind in 2002. Throw in some hammer-ons, pull-offs and quasi drum-rolls, and you get an idea of how much of the album rolls along.

My Disaster is the standout of the album, with awkward stop-start riffs, sweet harmonies contrasted against searing screams and group shout-a-longs to boot. Love With Caution blares out the speakers in a similar musical fashion, vocally a lot more harmony driven. The songs are guitar heavy, utilising the higher end of the neck for an emphasis on treble, and production-wise, bass needs more prominence in the mix to give the songs a fuller, phatter sound.

It’s a nice touch to see the lyrical content a little more uplifting and positive than much of their peers, and the band claims the overriding theme behind the album is dealing with whatever life throws at you, and to make positives from negatives. Here Today is probably the best example, telling the story of losing a loved one but remembering only the good times. For once they back down on the screams, and it has a suitably uplifting feel.

Predictably the slowest and softest number, True Romance, is reserved for last place. A somber track, it stands out not only musically with its slow tempo and soft vocals, but lyrically too with the story of a woman with no respect for herself and a man with his world crumbling around him. Normally the inclusion of something so different to the rest of the album would be interesting if only for shear curiosity, however this one fails to deliver.

For what it is, Arrivals really isn’t that bad a release. Pop sensibilities have been lost amongst the – œpunk’ acts of late and seeing Silverstein bring them back can only be a good thing. Unfortunately it’s the stale sound of five years ago that brings this release down.