Silent Planet
Superbloom


4.0
excellent

Review

by Mateo Ottie CONTRIBUTOR (33 Reviews)
November 3rd, 2023 | 277 replies


Release Date: 11/03/2023 | Tracklist

Review Summary: I Let It In and the Alien took me.

On November 3rd, 2022, Silent Planet were on tour traveling through a snowstorm in the middle of Wyoming when their van horrifically flipped and the members found themselves flung from the vehicle. Frontman Garrett Russell was among those who sustained injuries, being hospitalized for a fractured back, which while he thankfully healed from- but it was at that moment, that his, along with the rest of the band’s lives would be changed. On top of the physical and emotional trauma Russell faced in the precipitating aftermath, the near-death experience triggered a spiritual awakening of sorts, altering his perception of reality itself. As Russell himself put it, “I felt like I started to experience moments in time like portals, and I became convinced that our linear perception of time is not real. Going through that lived experience and seeing things differently… it gave me a new sense of wonder.”

A superbloom is a strange phenomenon where a high amount of wildflowers briefly blossom at once where they usually lay dormant, leaving an impressive alien-like display of colors. Euphorically, this phenomena occurred while the band was recording the album, tying in perfectly with the album’s concepts of extraterrestrial exploration and the pseudo-paranormal curiosity the events prior sparked within Garrett.

A concept album heavily inspired by a hotbed area for paranormal events known as the ‘Lost Cove’ and loosely based off a true story from the area, ’SUPERBLOOM’ follows the story of a teen who goes missing after an encounter with an extraterrestrial being and the transformation they go through after it. The concept was initially started before the crash, but as fictitious surrealism would have it, the record morphed into an allegory of sorts for Russell and his experiences following the accident, becoming an illustration of how art can dictate reality on a mystical level.

These themes and concepts aren’t held to the lyrical content either, the entire album’s sound is dripping with spacey atmospherics and otherworldly guitars, crafting a fully immersive experience and a perfect setting for Russell’s sci-fi prose. This of course makes for the biggest stylistic shift of the band’s career to date, drawing closer to the metalcore roots that have made up the DNA of the band’s sound while experimenting with ambient soundscapes and djenty, thall-esque guitar riffs, which the band introduced on the album’s first single “:signal:”. This makes even more sense when you realize the record was masterfully produced by none other than Buster Odeholm (Humanity’s Last Breath, Vildhjarta), who is a pertinent figure in the creation of the thall sub-genre.

Silent Planet also dabble with the warbly synthesizers, breakbeats and dark electronics that made up the (sonic) industrial revolution of the 90's- much akin to how their prog-metalcore contemporaries Northlane have done in recent years. This particularly comes through on the single "Antimatter", a track that seductively feels like a seedy nightclub on a foreign planet- and I mean that in the best way possible. These new elements come together on the first half of the record, with the bouncy 'Obsidian'-esque opener “Offworlder”, the fast-paced “Euphoria”, which features Alejandro Aranda (also known as Scarypoolparty), and “Collider'', which serves as the most straight-forward and accessible song the band have ever released, complete with a soaring clean chorus and repetitive hook that’ll be stuck in your head for days. The song also embodies the theme of transformation that runs throughout the record, with Garrett screaming about alchemizing the bad, and transforming it into a positive in life.

Now by this point, I know what you’re thinking- and don’t you dare come to the conclusion Silent Planet has gone soft- because the aggressive pit-starter “Annunaki” kicks off the second half of the record with some of Russell’s most brutal screams, unrelenting Loathe-like riffage from guitarist Mitch Stark and the performance of Alex Camarena’s career, who steals the show with one of the best drumming displays you’ll hear in the genre all year across time signature changes, blast beats, and speedy fills across an ever-changing abnormal structure.

These sonic changes are not to say Silent Planet have completely abandoned the sound they’re known for at all however, as the back-half of the album sounds the closest to the early sound of their career that they’ve been in years, such as the slow burning and progressive cut “The Overgrowth”, which calls to mind glimpses of 2018’s 'When The End Began’ with its ominous focus on cinematic atmospherics before exploding with Garrett’s signature spoken word-screamed delivery and one of the heaviest breakdowns of the album. The following track “Nexus” tastefully features a ton of callbacks and references both lyrically and instrumentally to 2016’s ‘Everything Is Sound’, name-dropping the album’s opening and closing tracks “Inherit The Earth” and “Inhabit The Wound”. “Nexus” is also, in my opinion, the most pulverizing cut Silent Planet has ever put out, being 4 minutes of pure unfiltered chaos and increasingly intensifying pacing and riffage which trade blows with the dramatic pad synths that act as the track’s backbone. The two tracks feel like the sounds of those albums transformed by the new elements, rather than replicated- which is incredibly fitting given the album’s overarching undertones of transformation and metamorphic experiences.

’SUPERBLOOM’ takes one last twist with the shoegazy alternative rock title track that closes out the record- and as risky as that seems on paper, it's the perfect way to end the album, with the catchiest chorus of the album and a stunning and emotional climax that makes for my personal favorite moment on the entire record. The track’s hazy atmosphere and reverb-soaked guitars straddle the line between serenity and paranoia, encapsulating the very aura of a Superbloom- both its unforeseen strangeness, and its scintillating beauty, before looping back into the “Lights off the Lost Coast”. Overall, ‘SUPERBLOOM’, for all of its exploration across space and sound, is one of the most cohesive metalcore and passionate metalcore records released this year. While it does wear its influences on its sleeve, it’s a solid creative outlet for catharsis with the layers upon layers of meaning and depth, and as “Collider” puts it, they’ve learned to alchemize.



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user ratings (233)
3.7
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
bellovddd
November 3rd 2023


6779 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

imma miss toms nasally vocals on this. I know it

bellovddd
November 3rd 2023


6779 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

nexus is nice

gravityswitch
November 3rd 2023


2127 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Nice review man, hope I'll feel the same way as you with further listens.

Collider and Euphoria are my early highlights, too bad they are followed by Dreamwalker, one of the worst song they ever wrote

cloakanddagger
November 3rd 2023


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Nice review. I was really worried about this release after some of the singles but it's a pleasant surprise so far. Tom's absence is felt a bit but it also means they're shaking things up a bit more and not overusing the clean vocals.



Signal and Annunaki are still highlights for me, damn those songs go so hard.

teolaiho
November 3rd 2023


14 Comments


Great review. One correction though, the album was produced by Daniel Braunstein, not Buster. Buster mixed and mastered

Verdr
November 3rd 2023


135 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

hyped about this and didn't disappoint

tommyhoover64
November 3rd 2023


41 Comments


wasn't going to listen to this but i am an avid Loathe enjoyer so now i may

onionbubs
November 3rd 2023


22172 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

"too bad they are followed by Dreamwalker, one of the worst song they ever wrote"



yeah dreamwalker, while not without its moments, is probably my least favorite silent planet song, from the jumpdafuckup intro riff to the fuckin korn impression hes trying to do occasionally. all of the worst lessons to learn from alien. not the biggest fan of euphoria's hook/feature since i don't really think it fits into the track, but other than that everything else rules. think the highlights on this are some of the best songs they've ever written. antimatter hits like crazy now that ive connected the dots and realized its about the wyoming crash

SteakByrnes
November 3rd 2023


30382 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Great album ya, Nexus is sick

frozencarl
November 3rd 2023


1751 Comments


decided to familiarize myself with this band some more since theyre playing on the Haste the Day/Still Remains reunion show im going to and damn, this shit slaps ahrd

onionbubs
November 3rd 2023


22172 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

i too will be at that show im stoked

Verdr
November 3rd 2023


135 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Anunnaki still one of my favs

frozencarl
November 3rd 2023


1751 Comments


yoo nice bubs! say whats up if you see me, im the dude with long hair in a black shirt

cloakanddagger
November 3rd 2023


764 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

"antimatter hits like crazy now that ive connected the dots and realized its about the wyoming crash"



Yeah I really didn't like antimatter when it first dropped but it really hits now I know what it's about.

Toondude10
November 3rd 2023


15263 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

I thought that was Collider that was about the crash, not Antimatter



anyways, album rules as per usual. These guys can do no wrong

onionbubs
November 3rd 2023


22172 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

@frozen hell yea dude ill try and find ya. ill be in prob like a brownish leather jacket (since its fuckin cold now lmao) and a forest green beanie



garrett re: antimatter



"At approximately 5am on November 3, we were westbound on the I-80 through Wyoming when our driver hit a patch of black ice, causing him to lose control of our vehicle,” explains singer Garrett Russell. “Asleep in our bunks, we woke to the sound of our friend screaming as we felt the van start to tilt. We braced together as we spun off the road, van falling on its side, then sliding down a nearby embankment until we eventually flipped onto the roof. I was thrown across the vehicle and briefly knocked out, and remember waking to find my bandmates all miraculously safe inside their bunks.



“This song is an extension of this experience we shared while huddled in the wreckage together, my friends helping me to stem the bleeding of my head wound,” he continues. “Temporarily under the effects of a concussion, strange visual distortions began to form, inspiring many of the themes in this song: The fragility of life, the way we make sense of it all, and wondering what awaits us on the other side.



“While this track is part of a larger story of our upcoming concept album, this one was specifically inspired by this moment… and the moments inside of that moment when I entered that timeless space. This song is our response to the greater Silent Planet community, who donated to help us stay on the road and continues to believe in this project"



but uh given what collider's name is i understand the confusion lol

Toondude10
November 3rd 2023


15263 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

fair lmfao

calmrose
November 3rd 2023


6999 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

absolutely crushes



their best yet

bigweinerdon
November 3rd 2023


2738 Comments


Did not expect this to smack so much fuckin ass

That album art is also so sick

William21
November 3rd 2023


922 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Nexus absolutely shreds. That, Antimatter, and Signal are my top cuts off this so far. Not quite as blown away by this as usual on first listen, but it's still Silent Planet, so it rules



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