Album Review: Dead Reflection by Silverstein

The emo titans are back with a new album. When it comes to crafting a new album, Silverstein don't like to rock the boat too much. Though when the band's formula for penning introspective anthems is so reliably good, why mess with it? Their ninth (yes, ninth) full-length is another collection of sprawling, melodic and at times gloriously punishing post-hardcore – 'Ghost', 'Secret's Safe' – that manages to feel as vibrant as it does comfortably familiar. It's very much the work of a band who are still capable of delivering the goods even after 17 years, while showing the fresh-faced up and comers a thing or two.

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It's difficult to deny that Silverstein is a flexible post-hardcore act. Coming in with their eighth full-length release, Dead Reflection, one constantly reflects on whether the Burlington, Ontario-based band has finally reached that point where their sound is static, leaving newcomers scratching their heads, wondering if trying their new material would be worth it. Here is a group who have fans with a personal nostalgia toward previous work, and with Arrivals and Departures hitting its 10th anniversary earlier this July, there is always the sense that the band is growing.

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Silverstein are another guilty pleasure of mine. I had a Victory Records sampler with "Giving Up" in high school when I got heavily into Thursday and Taking Back Sunday; and since then I've had a soft spot for them. Records like When Broken Is Easily Fixed and I Am Alive In Everything I Touch still get a couple spins on my side of town. Dead Reflection continues their evolution and finds the band at the more aggressive end of the spectrum, colder and weathered from years of tours, stories and emotions. "Retrograde" is a great example of this, finessed along the lines of metalcore bands of Falling Like Reverse -- but way better.

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