ONI – The Silver Line
Release Date: 13th October 2023
Label: Ironshore Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Metalcore, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Ghost Iris, Valis Ablaze, Bleed From Within, Chaosbay, Afterglow, SION, Shokran.
Review By: Metal Miguel
If you’re not familiar with the name then you’re very late to the party, but if you know your metalcore and watch YouTube then I’m more than sure you will have come across ONI at some point, and if you haven’t then you’re in for a treat.
They’ve had a few efforts out over the years, but this is a solid and more disciplined take on the metalcore genre, pulling on all the abilities and friends of the industry to craft and shape an album that is as engaging as it is melodic and heavy. It has balance and is very enjoyable from start to finish, which is something you really need from an album to have it on constantly, from beginning to end. The variety, pace and structure allow for constant listening and even if you miss a part because you stepped away, you’ll come back and feel like you haven’t left, and you’ll just hit repeat. I don’t mean that it sounds gash, that when you walk away the same thing is droning on, what I meant is that it has so much variety that it will take a few listens to fully embrace what’s on offer, which is a lot!
There are multiple guest appearances on the songs in terms of musicians and vocalists, the album has been produced by similar talented individuals which when combined with the ONI brand definitely gives you an album of epic proportions and that doesn’t take away from the creative flair of ONI because they still have their music on point, it’s just been refined with a partnership of creatives who all strive for the same epic outcomes and allows the album to be as good as I’m saying it is. Any negatives I have aren’t worth mentioning, so I’ll just keep the positive vibe going and say that if you like bands like Spiritbox, Ghost Iris, Bleed From Within etc then you will very much enjoy this outing. It has that perfectly balanced output of melody, soar, beatdowns, heavy crunch and overall listenability that you want from such an album within a similar genre – perfectly balanced like a well-folded sword for the eager warrior.
I won’t spoil the collaborations and list them in a way that suggests without them the album wouldn’t be a banger, more that you should listen to it off the bat without this knowledge and then be pleasantly surprised about whom all is involved. My favourite way of doing it is to listen to the album and form an opinion, then read the label information on the band and see if I was right. Similarly, I get to be impressed and or, indeed, shocked if it’s something I missed, but then that is the fun of the listen and I implore you to do the same, follow the music like a journey and play a form of mental bingo in your head to see which parts sound like who and if they had a hand in the production. Overall though, this is a fine album and starts with the same effort as it finishes, which shows maturity in writing, production and collective skill but also the vision of one who started the ball rolling and produced a very. Well written, recorded and balanced album.
(4.5 / 5)
