Review: The Silence

The Silence
“Audio Alchemy”
(Whiskey Records)

This thing started out with a tricked out ladies’ voice whispering, “Now children, are you sitting comfortably?” and then faded into a little synthesized beat and I was like, “Damn, man, more techno.”  T

Then the whole roof fell in and The Silence freaking rocked with all the intensity and passion of Sid Vicious with his hair on fire.  “Audio Alchemy” is self-produced but you’d never know it.  These guys won a Battle of the Bands contest (and a slot on the Warped Tour as a result) and are headed to your town soon to burn that mother down.  Hammering their way through such heavy, fist raised anthems like “Fortissimo Y Vivace” and “End of January” (you’ll dig the dual screaming for sure) and crooning a heartfelt path through more emo based gems (“Amalie (The Dead Boy)”), this fivesome from SoCal continue down the trail blazed by Thrice, At the Drive-In, et al.

And, as we all know by now, there are ten billion screamo bands capable of sounding decent at times and what sets one apart from the other is the quality of the writing.  The Silence exercise plenty of restraint, focusing on universals rather than idiosyncratic instances, giving “Audio Alchemy” a gritty, timeless feel.  There’s no major label backing these guys (yet) but there will be soon.