Superbloom by Silent Planet | Album Review
With their 5th full-length, Silent Planet blossoms into a new era of existential heaviness that pushes them and the genre to greater heights.
- Genre: Progressive Metalacore
- Members: Garrett Russell, Mitchell Stark, Nick Pocock, Alex Camarena
- Length: 36 Minutes
- Label: Solid State Records
- Released: 2023
In Full Bloom
Benjamin Franklin is oft quoted to have said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” I suppose, for the most part, that’s true.
We’re hardly promised anything in this life. Whether it’s happiness, health, security, or freedom, there’s an ephemeral quality to it all. Yet, as with anything, exceptions exist — or rather, simplification led to oversights.
Take art — music in particular, to consider the focus of this review: it is but one way in which we seek to carve out a more concrete position amidst our purported ether. Music is an eternal, universal force intertwined with Humanity’s very existence, and, in the right hands and to the right ears, it evolves into something transcendental. Inseparable from our minds, hearts… our very souls. Becoming part of our story, which is the truest certainty — we all have one, after all.
“What does this have to do with the new Silent Planet album?” you may be asking, a pre-manufactured hypothetical for which I’m grateful because I have a tendency to ramble and need reminders to get back on track. The point of all this is to say that within the macrocosm of the Certainty of Music, there exists a microcosm formed of bands/artists/singer-songwriters/etc, that actualize their own level of unquestionable certainty.
Whether on their third release or the thirteenth, these are bands whose quality is undoubtable. Since hearing 2014's The Night God Slept, Silent Planet cemented themselves into this pantheon. I’ve written at length about them (and likely shall again) — what they mean to me, their impact, etc, which you can read here, should the inclination strike:
Short version: This band and their music mean a lot to me. More than any other release this year, Silent Planet’s Superbloom is the only one that had a chance to threaten Take Me Back To Eden (Sleep Token) as my Album of the Year. I knew that before Superbloom was even announced when I had only singles with which to construct my opinion; such is the certainty they occupy within my music-loving soul. This review was never going to ask, “is the album any good?” — though, considering my experience with Megadeth’s 2022 offering, I could forgive myself for raising the question. Superbloom represents another fantastic release from a band incapable of handing out anything but their best.
Building off the sonic palette begun on 2021s Iridescent, the band’s fifth record continues to explore and expand the deployment of electronics within their proggy webwork of crushing dark-matter chugging, energetic kit-bashing, and Garrett Russell’s poetic lyrical insights.
Whereas some bands can feel like they’re “cashing in” on the trend by adding electronica elements that ultimately amount to background filler, Silent Planet wields synths as an instrument rather than an accouterment. Look to “Antimatter” for a prime example, whose eerie synths dictate the rhythm as opposed to the guitars, with the latter’s syncopated chugs operating more as a crushing backbeat to their ethereal neighbors.
More than any other Silent Planet release, Superbloom delivers the closest on the band crafting something approaching anthemic: see the infectious chorus on “Collider,” which dares the listener to join in on the first listen. Yet unlike many of their mainstream-minded contemporaries, Superbloom maintains the core tenets that first drew me to the band in the first place — namely, their unique approach to the genre’s sound and their philosophically-minded, existentialist lyrics — while finding new ways to evolve by growing the djent and electronica influences that Iridescent first seeded.
When I first heard “Collider,” I was surprised by the focus on “cleaner” vocals and its more accessible sound. It reminded me of Spiritbox, whose similar blending of djent, electronica, and progressive metal has earned them an interesting cross-over appeal, resulting in a somewhat meteoric rise from the relative obscurity of their roots.
But whereas Spiritbox has transitioned (somewhat) into a more arena-ready sound focused on ambient electronics and “chiller” vibes that’s seen some sloughing off of their heavier inclinations, Superbloom sees Silent Planet staying the course and releasing what might be their heaviest record to date. The guitars are thunderous, slamming down full-force in ways that remind me of my personal favorite “Panopticon” (Iridescent), aided and abetted by their electronic brethren to compose a cacophonous white noise of emotion.
The Dillinger Escape Plan-esque skronkery of “Alive, As a Housefire” (Iridescent) returns too on cuts like “Dreamwalker,” further entrenching the (relatively) young band to the progressive metalcore label that defines their work most accurately. And somehow — at the risk of sounding hypocritical — they’ve also found the room to inject more melody than ever before —not just on tracks like “Superbloom,” but across practically every cut. It’s the rare album that can truly claim to be “the heaviest, yet most melodic thing we’ve ever done,” as many a band is oft fond of saying, and something only a group like this could pull off; such is the strength and caliber of their songwriting craft.
Over a decade into their existence, Silent Planet remains the top-shelf import in metalcore. For a genre that often sounds like the musical equivalent of a self-help book with its lyrical fixation on empowerment and an “I think therefore I scream” approach to introspection, filtered through a templated approach to song structure practically tailor-made for arena-ready sing-alongs, it’s refreshing that a band like Silent Planet exists to buck the trends and showcase what the genre is really capable of — and continues to do so.
Five albums in, and they remain unpredictable, insightful, and just as vital now as they were for me back in 2014. There’s a reason I selected them as my favorite band, and Superbloom upholds that decision with aplomb.
