Silent Planet – Iridescent
Release Date: 12th November 2021
Label: UNFD
Pre-Order/Pre-Save
Genre: Metalcore
FFO: Silent Descent, Fit For A King, Phinehas.
Review By: Calvin Ryan
With an album, you get songs that are structured that do one of three things. Make you feel emotions that only music could make you feel. Tell you a story that’s pieced together song after song. Or they take you back into your memories to show you things you’ve forgotten about or bring back good times. It’s rare that an album does all three, but Iridescent does all three. Perfectly.
The story of the album is sort of a twisted and tangled one as it goes from frontman Garret Russell’ experience in a mental health hospital to the dystopian future of mankind. So it’s a bit all over the place in terms of story telling, but it’s done so well that you don’t even notice the switch until you re-listen. And even then it’s brilliant.
From the ambient movie trailer bass drops of intro 1-1-2 that transitions into Translate the Night, you know you’ve got a wonderful record on your hands. With drummer Alex Camarena and guitarist Mitchel Stark beating in unison and the bass of Thomas Freckleton adding a more crunchy tone to the album, it’s a great opener. Trilogy & Second Sun go beautifully together to create an energetic & sombre tone, as Second Sun starts slow but then launches into the blasting Metalcore sound.
Panopticon is a synth built, heavy toned nuclear bomb that’s heavier than expected. The gritty growls of Russell are shown here and are fucking outstanding, along with the machine gun drumming of Camarena. The Sound Of Sleep is the opposite of what it’s title would lead you to expect. With a soft vocal and drum build up, the band slam into the noise that’s been drilling into you from the start. Heavy and dark vocals are littered through the album, but the second half of the album is where they get nastier and filthier. Even the added bonus of clean vocals don’t stop it from being an assault on you.
Alive, As A Housefire is the most technical song on the album with Stark and Russell’s duel guitar beatdown and sweep picking sounding light and heavier at the same time to create an added aura of confusion. Terminal is another synth build-up, which starts slower with cleans. By the time the band kick in fully, they’ve led you into a false sense of security. While being the slowest song on the album, the band are still brutal with their delivery as they bounce from their heavy chugs to the sombre side of their abilities.
(liminal); is a lovely sounding synth interlude that gives you a small break from the chaotic nature of Silent Planet. Until, that is, Anhedonia melts your face clean off the bone with a scorching introduction from Camarena which is followed by Russell’s fast vocal delivery followed by a nasty drop that curls the toes of even the most elitist fans of Metal.
Till We Have Faces & title track Iridescent are both phenomenal album closers as they both swing harder than the other. Even with the slower side of Iridescent, it’s been a ride that you’ll want to take time and time again.
With the Californian based Metal crew on album number four, even though they sound like they’ve been doing it longer, they’ve hit the nail on the head with this record. With an upcoming tour in May 2022, they’ve got time to build upon this to win the crowd over ten times.
(4 / 5)
