ALBUM REVIEW: SUPERBLOOM – Silent Planet
On November 3rd 2022, Californian metalcore band SILENT PLANET‘s tour van swerved off a road in Wyoming, causing it to flip over and land upside down on the side of the road. Thankfully, the band survived, although frontman and guitarist Garrett Russell ended up in hospital with a fractured back and a head wound that required stitches. Exactly a year after that close call with death, the band release their fifth album, SUPERBLOOM. If it wasn’t for the van accident, the album could have turned out a lot different, but instead it sees the band pushing their sonic limits to the extreme.
Lights Off The Lost Coast starts off with electronic synths that gradually build up throughout its one-minute runtime before it smoothly transitions into Offworlder. With its techno-beat, it could easily be mistaken for a song that would be played in a club. But all that goes out the window as the beat kicks in and all hell breaks loose. The song mixes techno and metallic elements very well, and whilst it does sometimes threaten to buckle under the weight of its ambition, it manages to hold it together. There are death growls over electronic beats and distorted vocals over metal riffs – it is clear that SILENT PLANET are here to make an impact.
Collider is more of a back-to-basics metalcore track with some hints of electronica and again it is clear that the band are chameleons when it comes to music. Russell makes the switch from singing to screaming look easy, and the catchy and bouncy guitar riffs from him and guitarist Mitchell Stark give the song its backbone. On the other hand, Euphoria‘s strength lies in drummer Alex Camerena, who provides some heavy beats and makes sure that the heavier parts of the song aren’t forgotten as this is more of an electronic-leaning track, especially in the last minute or so.
Even as the band seek to push boundaries, there are moments where they stick to a formula. Dreamwalker is another electronic-led song whereas recent single Antimatter is a mixture of metalcore and electronic. It shows a notably softer side of the band, with more of a focus on singing than screaming, and it does unfortunately make the album slow down a lot after a fast-paced beginning. Right after that, :Signal: tricks the listener by starting off slow, luring you in before spitting in your face with some of the heaviest riffs and vocals ever put to a SILENT PLANET record. The strange and alien synths that are interspersed throughout the song sound like something from another planet, which is appropriate as the band named themselves after science-fiction novel Out Of The Silent Planet by C.S. LEWIS.
Anunnaki is another straightforward metalcore romp, whereas The Overgrowth starts off with synths and a simplistic drum-beat before launching into some angelic vocals. Of course, there are also screams. In fact, it is almost a song of two halves – the angel in one and the devil in the other. The production on this album is incredible. Whether the album is going from metal-to-electronic like on Nexus, the calming synths on interlude Reentry or the masterful five-minute closing title track which brings everything together on one song, the album never loses its focus.
Overall, SUPERBLOOM is one of the best metalcore albums of the year. SILENT PLANET are on top form, and they embrace both their future and past. The production means that the album never loses focus, and by sticking to two very broad genres the band are free to experiment with whatever sounds they like. This album is a tour-de-force and it should definitely be considered SILENT PLANET‘s magnum opus.
Rating: 9/10
SUPERBLOOM is set for release on November 3rd via Solid State Records.
Like SILENT PLANET on Facebook.