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 SILVERSTEIN
– When Broken is Easily Fixed (Victory
Records) Formed with a
desire to converge punk, hardcore,
and emo, the Silverstein guys have accomplished just that with this
ten-song release. ‘When
Broken Is Easily Fixed’ is a collection of songs that will easily
appeal to the fans of these styles. With
the experience of two independent releases under their belts, ‘When
The Shadows Beam’ released last year, and their debut recording,
‘Summer's Stellar Gaze’
released just two years prior, Silverstein seems to have perfected
their writing and recording skills in order to create smooth, crisp
sounding tracks. Neil Boshart and Josh Bradford offer progressive guitar
licks, backed up by a solid rhythm section consisting of Paul Koehler on
drums and Billy Hamilton on bass. Vocalist,
Shane Told, merges back and forth between melodies with cool sounding
harmonies to the screaming. I
personally don’t care for the screaming in the songs; if singing along
with a CD is going to give me a sore throat then it’s not really my cup
of tea. Silverstein
also blends interesting imagery in their lyrics.
Some songs are laced with forlorn poetry:
“The bright light beams from her eyes like broken
glass. Or a broken heart, who would have guessed? You’d leave me here.
Beneath my eyes I feel the tears, I hold back. I won’t leave this way
again (‘Last Days of Summer’).” But
then the song ‘Smashed to Pieces” is, frankly, kind of creepy: “I’ll
slit my throat with the knife I pulled out of my spine. Maybe when you
find out that I’m dead, you’ll realize what you did to me. And if my
lungs still let me breathe, would you be there for me? If I can make
myself believe, I’ll give you back what you took away. No, I won’t let
it go. Douse myself in gasoline.” All
in all, ‘When Broken Is Easily Fixed’ is a good listen, but
it’s definitely genre-specific. Mainstreamers
most likely won’t cross over for this, but for those into hardcore or
emo, Silverstein is a band to be embraced. -Melanie Falina
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