Album Review: Silverstein - A Beautiful Place To Drown

With the release of their tenth studio album, A Beautiful Place To Drown, Silverstein celebrate a stellar two-decade career. With the help of some guest talent, the Canadian post-hardcore outfit have compiled an album that bottles up their long journey into one cohesive, intricate and outstanding release.

The guest musicians Silverstein feature on this album, no doubt influenced by the band over the course of their own careers, generate a particular kind of passion, one that gives each song just a little extra kick. Burn It Down, featuring Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo, is the collaboration highlight of this release and it's a captivating and beautifully volatile song. Madness, featuring rapper Princess Nokia, highlights Silverstein’s brand of burning aggression, one that has taken 20 years to refine. At the other end of the spectrum, Silverstein bare all in All On Me, a sonically simpler, heart-wrenching number that proves Silverstein are capable of executing emotional stuff just as well as they are the aggravated. 

Silverstein drop the post-hardcore runs for something that exposes the heaviness of the album’s themes on September 14th. Oh, the aggression is still there with an incredible (and unexpected) vocal breakdown by Shane Told, but it makes a nice change to have those moments of vulnerability, receive insights into Silverstein themselves and hear them really stretch ideas outside their norm. 

This album is Silverstein’s best release to date. It supports the idea that Silverstein are a pivotal band in their genre, and if they’re playing as well as this 20 years in, imagine how incredible they’ll be with another 20 years’ experience.