Silence – “Dead Presidents”
In todays day in age, bands tend to follow certain trends in particular genres to stay relevant in the scene they are representing. Either you love it or hate it, become used to it or shut it out entireley. Nearly two and a half years ago, Floridas very own “Silence”, released a crushing ep entitled “There Is No Place Like Home”, that took many deathcore fans by storm, and is still listened to regularly today by the many who fell in love with it years ago. Some may consider that two and a half years is a long time in between albums (especially an ep), but need to take into consideration that the members of Silence also have projects in “Adaliah”, “Playing For Keeps”, “Ceruleus” and “Aglacia”. Earlier in the year the band revealed that they would be releasing their debut full length album in late 2012. After a few teasers and months later, Silence officially dropped their first single taken from the albums title “Dead Presidents”. Staying true to their roots, Silence not only have remained loyal to the old fans with their heaviness that caused so much buzz for them but have also set their focus on gaining some new fans with their progression and experimentation with some newer sounds.
“Deads Presidents” starts off as heavy as ever with a constant change of vocal ranges. Lead Vocalist Hunter Young’s voice sounds meaner than ever and the rawness of his screams really brings the listener in and exposes them to the emotion of his lyrics. Guest vocalists Adam Madsen and Dylan Blow of “Playing For Keeps” add postive depth to the song and dont take away from it at all. The drums sound crisp, the guitars fluent but the bassdrops in this song is what really shines on this title track, espcially the final breakdown that will make any true fan of deathcore headbang. The flow of the song never gets boring or repetitive, there is no typical chorous being used over and over again, like so many bands rely on to fill a song with minimal lyrics. However, one thing that does stand out to the listener is the addition of clean vocals. Fortunately, for Silence the clean vocals are executed beautifully and not overused whatsoever. Respectfully, the band has produced both their ep and now their full length independenttly, with a noticeable improvement in quality when it comes to overall sound which fans will be very pleased with.
Score – 9.5-10
