Album Review: Silverstein - 'A Shipwreck in the Sand'

10 April 2009 | 11:53 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Not ready to go down with the ship just yet...

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Ontario quintet Silverstein are perhaps symptomatic of the Canadian stereotype. That is to say, under-valued and typically the brunt of most jokes. Since the bands inception, with 2003’s critically acclaimed ‘When Broken Is Easily Fixed’, Silverstein have found themselves in the genre paradox – too heavy to be considered emo yet not heavy enough to be considered hardcore.

 

Studio album number four entitled, ‘A Shipwreck in the Sand’ sees the band adopt the heavy hooks of an Underoath or Poison the Well and combine it with the melody of a Senses Fail.  


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Whilst screamo music isn’t exactly this reviewer’s forte, sometimes to paraphrase a line from the Naked Gun, ‘you have to be like a blind man at an orgy and feel your way around’.   


As the pianos amalgamate with the sincere screams and heavy riffs on opening track ‘A Great Fire’, Silverstein assume a sink or swim approach. Much like the title of the CD, album four is not an exercise in complacency. Essentially, the band aim to climb to the top or conversely sink with ship that holds their musical aspirations.    


Standout tracks such as ‘Vices’, which features guest vocals from Cancer Bats front man Liam Cormier and ‘I Am the Arsonist’ highlight that Silverstein have not survived six years for nothing. To draw on an overused musical cliché – the heavier parts are heavier and the melodic parts are more melodic. Front man Shane Told mixes well; aggressive verse lines with catchy choruses whilst Boshart and Bradford provide a solid guitar backbone.  


However, tracks like ‘American Dream’ deserve a miss altogether.  

‘A Shipwreck in the Sand’ well and truly deserves a pass mark. File this one under decent. 

Enjoyable without being entertaining. Solid without being spectacular. ‘A Shipwreck in the Sand’ is sure to please long time fans and appease fair-weather listeners. Silverstein deserve much more credit than they commonly receive and at times, this album shows promising signs for the future.

  1. A Great Fire
  2. Vices
  3. Broken Stars
  4. American Dream
  5. Their Lips Sink Ships
  6. I Knew I Couldn’t Trust You
  7. Born Dead
  8. A Shipwreck In the Sand
  9. I Am the Arsonist
  10. You’re All I Have
  11. We Are Not the World
  12. A Hero Loses Everyday
  13. The Tide Raises Every Ship
  14. The End