Silverstein - I Am Alive In Everything I Touch (Album Review)
It's hard to believe that Silverstein has been at it for 15 years, but seven albums later, we got to see this band grow from a conventional hardcore band to the incarnation of post-hardcore and punk. One thing you can say about this band, throughout the years is there has been a constant stream of solid materials which may be hard to say for bands that have risen at the same time.
In particular, it's tough for any band to make one conceptual album - let alone three within a career and have them be solid. Long time Canadian rock band, Silverstein, has done this again with their recent album, I Am Alive In Everything I Touch. While it's not a concept album that requires a special type of decoder, it's a strong and simple listen that is very familiar as well. To set up a little bit of a background with this album, the band separates the sequence of tracks into four sections, Borealis, Austeralis, Zephyrus, and Eurus that chronicles the band on the road. (Just other names for North, South, East and West). There are suttle markers within each break Vocalist Shane Told sounds as confident as ever starting off with the first full track, A Midwestern State of Emergency" , which combines unclean vocals paired with the inventive guitars of both Josh Bradford and Paul Marc Rousseau. Told has had great ability to deliver power, rough vocals like in songs such as "Face of the Earth” and able to dial it back for the heartfelt, "Late on 6th" . Rousseau sounds more comfortable this time around adding his personal touch on lead guitar that fits in with the overall character of the band.
"Desert Nights" which is a fitting end to Zephyrus chapter of the album, shows the band's ability to make songs that are catchy both instrumentally and vocally without the heaviness that permeates throughout most of the album. "Toronto (unabridged)" which is the last track, brings the album to a somber close with acoustic guitars. IAAIEIT is another great album in the body of work that is Silverstein. The album does enough to pull in a few new listeners as it plays as a run through their history and will keep older fans satisfied to support them for 15 more years.
4/5
