audiopinions

Silverstein – Short Songs
[Hopeless Records]
10/10

Silverstein has been around since 2000, and has remarkably only had one album not chart, their debut. For a post-hardcore band to stay together this long with a great record of success, one may be wondering what the key is. Yet the key is quite simple, write great songs that the listener can connect to. And for the first eleven years, Silverstein has done that. Now the band wants to challenge themselves by releasing an album of originals and covers that are no more than ninety seconds long. This project is aptly titled Short Songs and is seen by the band as an extension of Rescue. The album opener “Sick As Your Secrets” quickly gives the sense that Silverstein has found their edge and urgency back and this continues through “Sin & Redemption”. Shane Told’s vocals are still top notch and bring to mind memories of the first few albums that were heavier than the newer ones. “Brookfield” switches up to the softer side of their sound that has helped propel their success. Musically, the album features the bass prominently more than once, which helps bring the mindset of the album into more of a hardcore/punk style album. This mindset and the songs provided throughout the originals are amazing and flawless. Short Songs may be the shot in the arm needed to make it another twelve years in this industry. Onto the covers, they start with “Short Songs” that featured nine different guest vocalists and was most likely a fun song for everyone involved. One of the best covers featured on the release is “Good Intentions” which was originally done by Gorilla Biscuits. It fits perfectly into the Silverstein mold yet was a straight up hardcore song that the cover works amazingly. The band’s cover of Green Day’s “The Ballad Of Wilhelm Fink” is the second best cover of the album and sees Shane Told channeling his inner Billie Joe Armstrong. This all equals out to a perfect album and a sort of a rebirth for the band.