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Pioneers of that movement too hastily dismissed as the -core derivative of the so-called "third wave of emo," the Canadian band Silverstein is one of the rare examples, alongside Thrice, The Used, and Jimmy Eat World, of a band capable of somehow standing the test of time against the deflation of a movement accused of filling iPod playlists worldwide for years with useless pseudo-alternative hits for fringed, anorexic teens.
Coming off one of the most urgent and wide-ranging discographic episodes of their career ("Dead Reflection," Rise Records, 2017), Shane Told and company hit double digits with this "A Beautiful Place To Drown," putting their mark on the twentieth year of activity. A record for friends, made with friends: from Caleb Shomo (Beartooth) to Aaron Gillespie (Underøath), to fellow countrymen Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan) and Aaron Marshall (Intervals), there are many collaborations through which Silverstein tries to coexist with a pop-punk background that appears more frequently than in the past, the fidelity to the post-hardcore roots of their style, and the desire to explore alternative paths.
And like at a dinner with friends, everyone brings something: in light of their previous experiences, the presence of the aforementioned guests can only accompany the boundaries with EDM and synth-pop, in the vein of Attack Attack! and the more recent Bring Me The Horizon, before returning to pop-punk sounds. The result is better than "Infinite," the single that preceded the album's release, did not leave one hoping. Yet, to cite the title, this certainly does not seem like the best album to be remembered before drowning: it lacks focus, a direction.
This is the common flaw of a good part of contemporary alternative-rock productions; the necessity of pleasing both sides might broaden the basin of occasional listeners but leads Silverstein to miss the pair that could have officially projected them out of the shadows, redefining a genre and embracing mainstream sounds with the intellectual honesty that they have abundantly shown in the past.
Not everything is to be discarded, and the hope is that what is worth saving will resurface.
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