In Response: “You Say You Are Into Music” Challenge | Pt. 2
Favorite Band / Artist? Scott-Ryan Abt asks. I answer.
I spent a long time staring at this screen, trying to find the words in which to open my follow-up to Scott-Ryan Abt’s call to action sequel that is
Whereas Round 1 focused on the exploration of our personal connections with music, and was therefore generally wide-format in its scope, Round 2 demanded a narrowing of the lens — a hyper-focus on one band/artist, and why they, above all others, are your favorite. For anyone who read part one of my answers, you’ll know when asked “What’s Your Favorite Band”, I sought to deflect the blow by unleashing a Top 10 list. (And if you haven’t seen it, here ya go)
Also, as I stated in that article, had I been asked this question maybe a decade or so ago, I would have fired off the answer without hesitation. In fact, I had gone into this round of questions convinced I was prepared to answer them with confidence. Instead, I found myself at a crossroads of introspection that, after much deliberation and false starts, led to the words you’ll read below.
What / who is your favourite band or artist?
Silent Planet. And yes, they took their name from C.S. Lewis’ 1938 sci-fi novel, Out of the Silent Planet — which I have never read, but am constantly nudged to one day pick up out of curiousity.
Why is that your favourite band or artist?
They’ve helped lift me out of depression more times than I can count. Garrett Russell is captivating; as a person, lyricist, and vocalist. His words are honest, poetic, poignant, influenced by (and often referencing) literature and philosophy to pose questions about humanity, society, religion, war, injustice, mental health, etc. The music is likewise evocative and moving, whether they’re delivering ambient synth passages or throwing down crushing, jagged riffs. Unlike most bands in the “metalcore” genre, Silent Planet remains exciting not just song-to-song, but album-to-album. They eschew genre tropes to engage in deeper levels of storytelling, with thematic explorations often stretching across multiple records. They’re unafraid of experimentation while never sacrificing their truth.
How have they been involved in your life? How long? How did you get into them?
I’ve been listening to them since 2014, so nearly a decade now. The algorithm gods saw fit to bless me with their presence during a late night YouTube music binge. I was feeling very depressed at the time and listening to music was (and still is) a way for me to kind of pause those feelings and process them. Music and mental health go hand-in-hand for me, and Silent Planet fell into my lap at precisely the right time.
Where do they come from? How does that inform their music?
They’re from Azusa, California. I don’t know much about the metal scene out there in 2009-abouts when they formed, but I know that Garrett Russell was a therapist at one point, which undoubtedly powers his focus on mental health and the exploration of human psychology, evinced by the conceptual and thematic framework of their albums. For a truly informative dive, I’d highly recommend checking out Garrett’s track-by-track breakdown of their third album, When the End Began, or several singles off of 2021s Iridescent. I’ll link them at the bottom of the article.
How many albums have they made? At which point did you come into them? What’s their biggest album? What’s their best one?
As of this writing, they’ve released 6 albums, with a 7th en-route:
EPs:
Come Wind, Come Weather — 2012
lastsleep (1944–1946) — 2014
LPs:
The Night God Slept — 2014
Everything Was Sound — 2016
When the End Began — 2018
Iridescent — 2021
Superbloom — Nov. 2023
As previously mentioned, I discovered them in 2014 through The Night God Slept. Determining their “biggest” album is tough — they don’t really have the kind of mainstream footprint that makes for easy analysis. Though, based on some light research, it would probably be Everything Was Sound, for its #85 positioning on the Billboard 200, and strong inner-10 charting across US Rock, US Hard Rock, US Christian, and US Indie. However, if we’re factoring pure monetization, then When the End Began might be the stronger contender, since it landed #20 with US Album Sales, #13 for US Digital Albums, and #9 on US Vinyl Albums, all higher than EWS.
Their best one is a hard nut to crack for me, since I find their catalogue devoid of anything below “excellent.” If pressed, I suppose I’ll go with Iridescent, since it currently features heaviest on my rotation, and it is host to quite possibly my personal favorite song from them, “Panopticon”. Also, it proved they could experiment with and advance their sound while still staying true to their style. It’s a dark, personal album that radiates its emotions with unbridled ferocity and heart.
If you were explaining them to someone who’s never heard of them, what is the one song you’d put on that tells you everything you need to know about them?
Another tough question, as I think every one of their songs (minus the occasional intro/interlude) has the ability to sell the band’s qualities. If I absolutely had to pick one, though, then I’d feel good with “XX (City Grave)”, off of The Night God Slept.
Why that song?
It was the song that introduced me to the band, if memory serves, and in that context it feels appropriate that it be the one I use to introduce others. It’s an engrossing track that showcases the young band’s talents, their progressive compositions, and Garrett Russell’s poignant, captivating lyrical themes and constructions; to point, “XX (City Grave)” is told from the tale of one of the album’s “sisters”, women whose stories of tragedy and survival make up the runtime of The Night God Slept. Here, Garrett’s character rails against a system — politically, religiously, and personally — that feeds off of the sexual objectification of women like herself, screaming “Show me a righteous leader; I’ll show you the bullet holes” and questioning what hope or visibility she may have in the eyes of a patriarchal God (a particularly honest and visceral piece of writing, considering Russell himself is Christian). It’s an incisive piece of music, soul-stirring and heart-rending, that speaks to everything the band has done and is doing now.
Have you seen them live? Where? How many times? What’s the most you’ve paid for a ticket? What’s the most you would pay?
I’ve seen them live once, at the Fillmore (technically The Foundry — it’s the upstairs venue) in Philadelphia, 2020. It was the last concert I went to before COVID locked everything down, and had it been the last concert I’d seen ever, I would harbor no complaints. I’d never been to the Fillmore prior and have a rather unfortunate fear of adventure thanks to an overactive imagination and general anxiety/fear of new things, but with the support of a wonderful friend and a burning desire to see the band, I pulled the trigger and attended. Not only that, but I decided to go all-in and pick up VIP upgrades — I think in total taking the ticket prices to $50 a pop — and I would have paid twice that had I known it would become the single-greatest VIP experience I’ve ever had, then and likely ever. Unlike the $200 I spent on Arch Enemy VIP tix back in 2017, which, though it scored me a signed poster and a sick shirt, ultimately felt like an obligation by the band rather than the spirited, friendly, inclusive gathering Silent Planet put together.
Do they have any shows coming up that you are looking forward to? Would you travel to see them? Have you?
They are on tour right now, but sadly aren’t coming anywhere close to me, aside from a show in Brooklyn, NY. My aforementioned anxiety and inability to drive make shows beyond my area of operations difficult, be it logistically or emotionally. But, should they come within actionable areas once more, as headliner or support, I would certainly exhume my willpower and endeavor to see them again.
The Last Word
I listen to a lot of music — it’s rare that I’m not discovering a new band, and rarer still that I haven’t impulsively picked up said band’s album based on only the briefest of listens. My brother likes to rib me over it, declaring I’m a “quantity over quality” person. It’s not an entirely unfair claim, though I would make the argument that if you enjoy something, then there’s quality in there somewhere. Besides, there’s too many bands making too much cool music that the mere thought of cutting myself off for the sake of cultivating some form of “esteemed palate” is personally repulsive.
That being said, there are a lot of bands across genres that are very much following a recipe, template, guideline… whatever you want to call it. Like any recipe, some people can make it shine in spite of its rigidity; others end up lacking flavor and taste stale by comparison. As a genre, metalcore is particularly guilty of this. My brother likes to joke that much of it (lyrically) sounds like youth group music — and though it’s a broad generalization, I again can’t fully disagree, as many of the bands active in the genre draw connections and influence from their faiths. There is also a predilection toward uplifting choruses about finding your inner strength (see: God) and overcoming the demons of the world. And breakdowns. There’s gotta be a breakdown somewhere. Usually toward the back-end. Listen to enough metalcore and you can practically count it out.
Not so with Silent Planet. There is no recipe at work here within their music; they’ve opted instead to create their own. And with every album, they find new ways to spice it up. More of the same won’t do it for them. Their music is exciting, unpredictable; the lyrics challenging, confrontational, eager to lift us up — not on the wings of some honeyed inner strength or divine intervention, but rather with hands carved from the bedrock of the reality we’ve cultivated, so we can see and engage and question it and ourselves. Garrett Russell is, in my mind, one of the greatest lyricists and vocalists in metal as a whole, and quite possibly beyond it. And though it took me a while to get here, as I close off this article it feels only natural that Silent Planet would be the band I ultimately chose to write about. They represent everything I love — about music, writing, storytelling, humanity… Meeting Garrett and the band was quite literally one of the greatest joys of my life. Their music touched my soul; it has overcome me and become me. Quality of the highest order.
Anyway, I’m starting to ramble, I feel like. I hope you guys enjoyed this, and if I’ve convinced anyone to give them even the smallest listen, awesome — maybe you’ll hear some of what I’ve been trying to convey. And if you’re feeling up to it, I’d love to see your own responses to these questions — tag me so I can check ’em out. Be sure to credit Scott-Ryan Abt, too, for once again putting all this in motion in the first place!
