A stunning release with constantly shifting heavy Hard Rock with some dazzling, melodic female vocals.
To come to the conclusion at once: If you are into Hard Rock with a tinge of Heavy Metal, leaning a bit to the progressive side of things, this is an amazing album to spin again and again to get all the shifts and hooks beneath the soaring vocals.
Here at Veil of Sound, we are lucky to be able to access vast sources of promos. Sometimes I choose bands I know, excited about the new release. Sometimes I pick one in the blind, I know nothing about. The amazing thing is that there is so much excellent music out there that one rarely fails just picking one. This is what happened when I lifted Silhouettes by Giant Walker from the well.
The music is labelled Progressive/Alternative. I thought of the ‘70s and ‘80s Progressive Rock, a time when I got my fair share of the swelling pathos from the keyboards and synths, and howling vocalists with mullets. But, you know how it is - prejudices have a way of coming back and slapping you in your face: The music on Silhouettes is far from the aforementioned stereotypes of old - no with its heavy riffs and constantly shifting guitar, unceasingly intense drumming and throbbing bass, and strong vocals which never break this record really shows how to do it without becoming a clone or ripoff.
A bit red-faced I had to crawl back and listen to their first full-length All in Good Time and read a bit about the band and the record. I understand all the praise they got back then in 2022, and now here is their sophomore album: more mature, stronger, and - in my ears - heavier. The Progressive element that is used to label them, is probably due to the female vocal that is telling the keyboards off and taking up the room with brilliance. It is at times strong, captive, melodic, rejective, somber, and sometimes lifting the heavy riffing music, at other times contradicting it.
The album’s first song, ”Time To Waste” opens with a distant distorted strumming with hints of fuzz before the music melts the heavy riffs, hard drums, and bass licks to support the crystal clear and strong vocals that emerge taking the melody to new realms. The song takes a turn back to the opening riffs before continuing in a slow-pace until it surges once more to meet the rising vocals singing the engaging heartfelt chorus ”On and on, and on / Got time to waste / (There’ll be another day) / On and on, another time and place / We’re riding against the wave”. The music turns to dense riffs, the drumkit is taking some hard hits and the grooves from the bass make it even more powerful. The music surges to meet the clear vocals once more and the track lightens a bit with sound effects floating in the background before culminating in a gigantic guitar moment.
Onwards rushes the fast next song ”Make Me” where the guitar is really engaging and the bass lays the foundation for a song with hurried vocals. The music is stomping forward as the guitar stops and swirls around the Steff’s voice. The track is tight, it is fast, but with delightful tempo shifts and it contradicts the following title song that opens with soft strumming acoustic guitar and smooth vocals giving a longing sense to the lyrics: ” Go home, wish I could go home”. The flow of music takes a swift turn and fuses into heaviness, grips you by the throat and yanks you into the dense riffs, throbbing bass, drums, and a strong soaring singing. The music simmers down to an acoustic part again with the support of the drums and a melodic bass and then it expands back into the wonderful sung parts streaming forward until a new, more hurried acoustic passage takes charge with a change in the vocals as there is some shivering. After some ebb and flow the song cools down with a somber acoustic solo upon soft rhythms and bass as it fades away.
On ”Use on You” a dense opening builds a tower of rhythmic sound to immerse the vigorous vocals which rise and sink within the enormous dense and heavy sound. It seems as if it’s pushing vocalist Steff from strength to strength. The lead guitar flies out in what first is a fuzzy solo turning into a high-pitched, more engaging one, before the strong vocals catch up once more leading everything forward to a rumbling end.
When the music tightens on ”Halcion” and keeps rocking forward contrasting the laid-back vocals I want to paraphrase The Rolling Stones, “It´s only Hard Rock´n´Roll (But I Like It!)”. And it keeps on rolling with its twists and turns, extremely heavy riffs, an engaging rhythm section, and the steady voice on ”Eraser, Obscurer”. The flowing melodic theme is heaving the harmonies forward and upward in an engaging tempo. There is no rest as ”Round and Round We Go” embraces you in a certain denseness and with powerful vocals. The guitar turns into a fuzzy solo and the music kicks into a stomping rhythm as the voice and harmony are emotional and climb upward to the highest tones and then sink to a dreamy spot before rising back up high and suddenly, the music implodes and steers back to the strong and hard rhythm.
It is impressive how the Steff’s voice keeps on going and she never breaks even on the highest or the lowest tone as it does on ”So You Say”. It opens with a mellow part as the vocals flow like the tides forward until arriving in a crescendo where the vocals soar wild and free above it all. The song sways between parts lunging forward and ebbing parts with quiet singing.
The album closes with ”What It’s Worth”, a compelling song with a hurried pace and bass that seems to hold back a bit. Toward the end, the sonics sink below the vocals almost stomping forward until it pans out accompanied by singing. Light tunes emanate from a clear strumming with the lyrics ”Hear the siren sing my name / Only the dead survive” delivered by the hummingbird.
How to sum it all up? Just read my opening statement.
