ALBUM REVIEW: Lined In Silver – Breaths

It’s pretty clear that it is difficult being the sole member of a band. Not just from a workload perspective, although playing every instrument to a certain standard takes a high level of skill. Instead, with one person at the helm, quality control becomes a much bigger issue. With a minimal amount of people guiding the project, it takes a lot of self-control to not throw everything at the wall and hope. That Jason Roberts has managed to combine such a range of genres and influences with BREATHS, driven by his own experiences throughout 2020, and turn them into a cohesive and excellent album deserves significant praise.

Building on a solid foundation of all things ‘post’, BREATHS creates a soundtrack to his anxiety, both about the state of the world, his feelings as a new father, and a terrifying bout of sleep paralysis. Soundtrack is the write descriptor as well, Lined In Silver often feels cinematic. Its multi-textural makeup takes the listener on a journey through one of the bleakest periods in recent times, then lifts that weight with moments of hope.

Only during the title track do any cracks show. The constant shifting from post-hardcore melodies and clean vocals to the blackgaze screams don’t flow quite as they do throughout the rest of the album. It’s a touching song, one that sums up many of the themes, but in a lot of ways, it’s also the weakest. The Weight/The Bellows fairs far better. Not a second of these nine minutes is wasted. The oppressive atmosphere engulfs the listener and Roberts’ clean vocals work well throughout. Describing his sleep paralysis, the track ebbs and flows, and those switches between the light and the darkness feel earned, rather than coming out of the leftfield.

Like Wires adopts a chuggy, peak-DEFTONES sound that works as a groovy little palette cleanser, with a nasty breakdown at the end. A Year On Fire follows this up, leaning harder on the blackgaze influences but never feeling out of place. By this point in the album, Roberts has found his niche and is more comfortable with the genre hopping. The opening salvo on In Nightmares, the twelve-minute epic that bridges the two sides of Lined In Silver, brings back the doomy atmosphere and combines it with mournful vocals. Roberts has a real skill with longer tracks, knowing exactly when to switch gears. You’d be hard-pressed to find a second that could be shaved off here.

If the first half of BREATHS‘ debut is reflective, the second half has an edge of anger. The angular riffing of The Forgotten Ones is matched with a more guttural vocal style. When this meshes with the clean chorus, it brings back memories of the early-noughties post-hardcore scene. How this is still so cohesive with the rest of the album is a question only Roberts can answer, but it does. The Inherent Emptiness is the other side of the coin. Just as heavy but with bigger harmonies and conversely, more savage black metal moments. This drifts into the ethereal In Repose, which closes out the album and again shows a new side to this multi-instrumentalist.

Lined In Silver is an album you need to listen to multiple times. There’s so much that can be missed. It’s easy to get caught up in the genre-switching, the big choruses, the heavy themes. Subsequent listens reveal a mastery of the instruments on show. Whether it’s stripped-back black metal riffing, or angular hardcore breakdowns. Similarly, the drumming and the synths are all used to perfect effect. As a response to a unique set of circumstances, Jason Roberts has created a unique listening experience with BREATHS. Lined in Silver is an absolute must-listen for fans of almost any genre.

Rating: 9/10

Lined In Silver is set for release March 26th via self release.

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