156/Silence: Pushing Harder
This feature on 156/SILENCE feels somewhat overdue. In the space of a little over two years the Pittsburgh-based five-piece have shot right into the leading group of the metalcore pack, releasing a string of killer records at an alarmingly prolific rate. Their latest effort Narrative has been out a matter of days when we catch up with guitarist Ryan Wilkinson, and as he tells it, “It feels like a weight has been lifted a little bit.”
Essentially the product of that glut of downtime we all had a couple of years ago when the pandemic shelved plans to tour its predecessor Irrational Pull, Narrative offers a vision of 156/SILENCE at their biggest and boldest yet. Their vicious metallic core remains front and centre, but dotted around the edges we find plenty of synthy and textural embellishments, as well as some of their most dynamic work to date. “I definitely feel like [the pandemic] influenced the album a little bit,” suggests Wilkinson. “Irrational Pull was written to be played live, and when we weren’t able to do that we were like ‘for this next one we need to make it a little more accessible’. We wanted to appeal to both sides of the fence. Whether you’re at home or coming to see us live you’re gonna get a well-rounded experience regardless.”
“We were already kind of playing around with some of those elements on Irrational Pull and the EP [2021’s typically excellent Don’t Hold Your Breath],” he adds. “And on Narrative we just wanted to push ourselves in every way. We really dialled in and focused on the atmosphere of each individual track and how it all flows together – kind of like the song within the song. And the word we kept throwing around was that we wanted it to sound cinematic. We wanted it to feel like an emotional experience all the way through. We never want to write the same album twice. We always want to try new things, which I feel like we did quite a bit of on Narrative.”
Equally compelling however are the parts of 156/SILENCE that remain the same, and it’d be impossible to get through this conversation without at least asking Wilkinson about his bandmate Jack Murray, who to most ears remains the band’s most attention-grabbing presence as their feral frontman. “Jack is an excellent lyricist,” agrees Wilkinson. “I don’t know how he’s able to push all of those words out of his lungs, but he’s able to do it somehow. And then Jimmy [Howell, guitars] is a wizard when it comes to songwriting. He writes a good majority of the baseline for the instrumental section, and then he’ll bring it to us and we’ll add our own sugar and spice from there. I am very grateful to be in a band with the talented and dedicated guys that are in 156.”
Of course, part and parcel of putting oneself out there as 156/SILENCE have with Narrative is accepting that your art becomes open to others’ perceptions, and while Wilkinson’s hope is that it will resonate with people, he tries not to worry too much about the cacophony of feedback that can proliferate the internet following a band’s every move. “Obviously there are going to be people who don’t fuck with it as much as other people, and some people go out of their way to let us know that,” smiles Wilkinson. “But it’s nice because for the longest time especially with the pandemic, we weren’t able to see the reaction live. So when people do let us know that they appreciate what we’re doing and they like the direction that we’re going in, that helps us stay motivated and push harder.”
“I think it’s something that’s always in the back of our minds, like ‘where are we going to go next?’” he continues. “We may not always have a concrete idea, but we’re always paying attention to the sounds and things that other bands are doing, and always looking for new sounds even in older music that we like.”
Keeping an eye on the competition makes a lot of sense, especially as the metal/hardcore landscape continues to grow ever more crowded with excellence. “There are a lot of really hungry young bands, some of which we’ve had the pleasure of being able to play with and tour with,” confirms Wilkinson. “I think metalcore, hardcore – whatever you want to call it – is in good hands with a lot of the bands that are coming up and getting recognised right now. Part of me wants to say that I don’t feel competitive, but I definitely am. I’m proud of the music that we’re making. I want people to listen to it. I want people to see us, and there’s only a limited amount of spots on some of these tours so there definitely is a little bit of competition there.”
As we begin to wrap up, it comes as little surprise to us when Wilkinson confirms that they’re almost done writing their next album. Before then however the road beckons, and we leave it to the guitarist himself to conclude, “We’re just looking forward to meeting and playing in front of a bunch of new people, whether they’ve been fans for a while or are just now starting to discover our music. We just can’t wait to get out there.”
Narrative is out now via SharpTone Records.
Like 156/SILENCE on Facebook.