1. Red Asphalt and the Journey Home
2. You Fucked Up Big Time, Starsky
What the hell is prog screamo? Apparently this is, which is funny because I could swear this is just another emo band. I wish people would stop inventing genres for their music. To me Shadows Amongst Silhouettes don't appear to do anything new, if you've heard Glasseater, Poison The Well, Saosin et al and I tell you this is similar to all that, then you'll easily know what to expect.
The screaming in these tracks is little odd, quite thin in tone and strangulated and sometimes switches to comedy death-metal style grunts (well I find death-metal grunts comedic anyway). The guitars mostly consist of powerchords underneath topped with repetitive soloing over the top, which is a fairly obvious technique to use in this kind of music. The drumming is also typical of the style and basically functional for the music.
It's starting to sound a bit grim isn't it? Well the funny thing is I really like this. The reasons are perhaps more personal than anything else: the vocalist sounds incredibly like Just Surrender (formerly A Second Chance) which are a band I love beyond all reason. I also find the lyrics in SAS's music piercingly honest in that same way as their obvious influences.
Their style might be a little staid for some, and some might find the screamy elements of the songs a bit weird, but beyond these factors is some blasting rock music overflowing with emotion. And this is my review and I say this band are GOOD!
myspace.com/shadowsamongstsilhouettes
Nik's rating for this CD is:
