REVIEW: 156/Silence - People Watching

 156/Silence’s fourth album is a love letter to the scene, combining classic metalcore structure and sounds with dreamy vocals and hardcore riffs to create a dissociative metalcore piece that will make you feel like taking a long walk atop a steep hill on a dark night.

Honed skill emanates from one track to the next on this album; where 'Target Acquired' and 'Sleep Spikes' draws you in with a classic hardcore sound, the second single 'Better Written Villain' takes the listener back to pure metalcore with passionate clean vocals and exemplary instrumental. The whole album informs listeners that 156/Silence are in their stride, complete with a three act structure providing eerie eyes in the storm of this project akin to the ones that pierce you on the album’s cover.

That is not to say that there has been no room for new elements - 'Blood Loss (ft Carson Pace)', 'Wants I Need (ft Craig Owens)', and even the title track 'People Watching' all include spoken word elements within their runtime. Though unexpected, kudos must be given to a band for trying something different in a genre that can often melt into itself. These tracks create poetry covering themes of marginalisation, the failing of others to meet standards and frustrations with culture that resonate heavily, especially when cut with passionate vocals displaying a warranted anger at the state of the world around 156/Silence.

Highlight tracks on this album include initial single 'Unreasonable Doubt', as well as 'Change Agent (ft Trae Roberts)'. The former features walking hardcore riffs and is anchored by its sincerity when you are asked ‘what have you learned from this?’ before being launched into an intimate retelling of trying to break free from another, with the final reprise a reminder that a slowing down does not mean an end. The latter is a pull-no-punches piece of hardcore polished with the inclusion of Trae Robert’s guttural vocals and a multi-part breakdown that could take pride of place on any metal rotation.

The final two tracks, 'Terms and Conditions' and 'Healing Process (Leave of Absence)', serve as the crescendo and a culmination of the anger that has built across the previous 12 tracks. 'Terms and Conditions' challenges the intentions of its subject through its explosive beginning and accusatory final bridge, while 'Healing Process (Leave of Absence)' is a six minute ballad where vocalist Jack takes you through every stage of waking up and letting go with raw honesty and finishes with a mantra for the recently healed.

Overall, 'People Watching' serves as a metalcore playbook from a band who are not only comfortable in their space but are ready to expand it, and is an earnest and passionate project as willing to show its writers' vulnerabilities as it is to show their anger.

'People Watching' is released on September 13th via Nuclear Blast Records.

Words: Julia Brunton

Photo: Nick Chase