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silentscream_inthecinema
Artist: Silent Scream
Title: In the Cinema
Genre: Goth Rock / Post Punk
Release Date: 8th April 2011 (Germany)
Label: Danse Macabre


Album Review

I have to confess that I, while listening to 'In the Cinema' for the first time, had to assure myself twice from what year the release is dated, cause all ingredients bunched on that record could be an one to one copy from something originated in the late 80´s or early 90´s, therefore a time, when Goth Rock found it's first clear and self-sustaining definition (so far!) And within those defined bounds SILENT SCREAM are acting, without any obvious risk, although audibly feisty. Rattling, machinelike drums, whose corpora are covered with dozens of effects and sounds, swirling and organic bass-guitars, whose melodic lines are embed somewhere between the early SISTERS and the French cold of ASYLUM PARTY, guitars, which are sounding like a reminiscence of KILLING JOKE and something recorded by BAUHAUS and vocals, flanked by echo and delay and without the need of the "usual" low pitch, which cohere this emotional framework of melancholy, anger and acoustic coldness. That seems Goth Rock in its most primal and vestal shape, somewhere at the blurred threshold between Batcave and Post-Punk.

But now a look at the protagonists: SILENT SCREAM has arisen from the remains of the Finnish Goth band VARJO, who had already reached a kind of cult status in native sceneries (so they supported NEW MODEL ARMY on tour) and whose history expired in a very tragic way, cause two of it's members died within one year from the consequences of accidents. After the release of the fifth and last VARJO album in January 2010, the remained musicians Antti Lautala (vocals), Matthew Pallasoja (bass) and Jukka Laine (drums) decided to dare a new start, with a new name, new songs (this time completely sung in English) and a new musical orientation, that put the focus more on the Goth Rock and Post-Punk attitude, means stronger and more energetic rhythms and a more squarely sound.

That resulted in this actual debut album, at whose anatomy we now take a closer look: 'In the Cinema' is, according to the bands statement, a kind of a concept album, inspired by the classic horror movies from the silent film era, what makes the opening (and eponymous) track 'In the Cinema' not only become a musical signpost, but with the first sung lines "start a film, watch yourself, silver screen, in the cinema...for you tonight" even a topical one. Sawing guitars, pulsating toms and an impelling bass guitar open the curtain and face you from the beginning with this strangely familiar atmosphere of tangible dry ice, a Spartan but effective instrumentation and raw tatters of idealized Rock'n'Roll, in what Antti´s voice is wafting on a carpet of echo through the rough outlined sceneries for proclaiming seemingly empirical dualisms of light and darkness, reality and fiction.

Next one is 'Do it right', what strongly reminds me of the above-mentioned ASYLUM PARTY with its great dialogue of distorted guitars and a cadenced and tuneful bass line. And even if it seems, that there are some certain kinds of stereotypes appearing between the lines and the notes now and then, so SILENT SCREAM skilfully avoid to make then come into conscious reality. You seem to guess them, but before you can completely assure yourself, you start to wonder: "From what point on a stylistic devices becomes a cliché? And who deals the cards?" 'City Highrise' feels like a liberating exhalation, like an energy, that found it's way out a restrictive armour and it's the same captivating energy, which makes a song like 'Vultures' so fascinating and attractive, even if it here wears almost a mask of no-existence. And that's a real gift of the album, to create such a complex atmosphere of oppressive intensity with sometimes little more than nothing.

With the songs 'Hive Mind' and 'Animal Room' we reach the more offensive and aggressive part of the album, whose paralyzingly shrieking guitars, sharp-edged keyboard samples and yelling vocals make it crawl the closest at it's own Punk based roots. That's the path also followed by the impetuous and untamed 'The Present', but here the vocals remind more of the psychedelic and darker side of the 'Pornography'-era CURE and songs like '100 Years', whose raison d'etre doesn't care about any acoustic elegance and considerations. A little surprise is the following cover version of 'Burning Car' by JOHN FOXX, what missing it's originally synthetic surface becomes a filthy bone of Rock'n'Roll, hunted by guitars and drums to breathlessness.

Another break and we reach my personal highlight: 'In the Sea' is an emotional jewel, whose SMITH-like guitar and Lautala´s far-reaching vocals create an filigree and almost woven melancholy, without any frills and full of beauty. With the last song 'The Ghost in Your Eyes' we drift back in that claustrophobic emptiness, what seemed to have been there all the time of listening, invisibly as a cold breath in the neck. A compelling and intense feeling, feeding itself seemingly independent from time and space, but swallowing precisely those...

Conclusion: 'In the Cinema' is an album you will love if you love the musical sources it was fed by. It's not an album for everyman's ears, cause there are to many references, to many associations, memories, alleged tributes and obeisance, which make it hard to comprehend the complexity and entirety of the album without to catch and decode them. It's an acoustic time travel for those, who are historically versed and it's a nugget for those, who are mentally linked to a certain period. I, for one love it!


Tracklist

01. In the Cinema
02. Do it right
03. City Highrise
04. Vultures
05. Hive Mind
06. The Animal Room
07. The present
08. Burning Car
09. In the Sea
10. The Ghost in Your Eyes


Line-up

Antti Lautala – Vocals, Guitars
Matthew Pallasoja – Bassguitar, Vocals
Jukka Laine – Drums


Website

http://www.myspace.com/silentscrm


Cover Picture

silentscream_inthecinema


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 7
Total: 8 / 10

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