The Great Bear

Reviewed by Sagiv Shaniv

Artist: Silencer
Album: The Great Bear
Label: Vanity Music Group
Release Date: September 25th 2012

Tracklist:
1. Sacred War
2. I Am Thunder!
3. 1969
4. Great Bear
5. Insignia
6. Star City pt. 1
7. Star City pt. 2
8. Orders / Noble Sacrifice
9. The Roar
10. Light
11. The First, The Last

Versatile, I think that’s the word to describe this album. It is easy to notice this is not Silencer’s first record: With tight recordings and a high level of playing and (most of the time) production, the group takes their special sound to a higher level.
The album is a concept one, which focuses on the American-Soviet space race in the 50’- 60’ and takes a step forward, raising some “What if” questions concerning the soviet side, asking what might have happened if the Russians were to one-up the American’s moon landing by going somewhere further.
The album is rather short, lasting no more than half an hour, which is quite short a time to spread the conceptual story the band wants to introduce us to.
The album is very thrash-influenced, but it carries some other style characteristics, such as power metal choruses and bigger-than-life harmonies, progressive gentle, smooth playing, and even semi-doom parts. This entire blend fits very well into the story and most importantly coexists with Keith Spargo’s harsh voice that reminds me of Rob Flynn’s besides its lack of hoarseness.
We open with a bombastic-to-quiet short instrumental of Russian scent, quickly getting us into the story. “I Am Thunder” is an excellent thrash song that if it would’ve been released 20 years ago would’ve been much more recognized and known, for it belongs to the kind of songs that were released during that period.

“1969” is some talking in Russian that I still need to call my Russian friends to translate for me… “Great Bear” is a rather regular power-thrash song, with nice bridges and verses, but nothing beyond. I consider this song a low-point in the album, mostly for the production, that is yet still overall good.
“Insignia” and “Star City pt. 1” are nice tracks but nothing outstanding to talk about, though I must say the guitar solo on the former is no less than impressive.
“Star City pt. 2” is undoubtedly the “break” in the album, being silent and calm, a perfect preparation for the album’s highlight – “Orders / Noble Sacrifice”, a top-notch powerful thrash song, with a mighty chorus and a prog outro that fits into this one like a slap to a guy’s face by his girlfriend after she found out he was cheating on her two days before prom (!).
The last three songs are a nice closure to the album, keeping its line perfectly.
The last track is an impressive Russian chant, to which you cannot listen without imagining crowds marching in front of comrade Stalin.
In the end, it is a nice album, that one will probably enjoy listening to, but it won’t be one that will be remembered for a very long time (unless you are a Russian metalhead or something, I guess) by the common listener.

I recommend this album as a nice piece of modern metal, but call you not to expect anything new or outstanding.

7/10

Band Members:

Keith Spargo – vocals, guitars
Dan Lynn – guitars
Patrick Russell – bass
Alex Simpson – drums

http://www.silencer.cc/
www.facebook.com/silencermetal
http://www.myspace.com/silencermetal

Denver thrashers SILENCER will release their third full-length album and their first concept record, “The Great Bear”, on September 25.

Commented the band: “SILENCER has followed a steady progression of thrash through the years, bordering on the extreme on recent releases. On this album we rewind to more ’70s and ’80s influences, aiming to bring a bit more rock back into metal without sacrificing any punch; things like big choruses and hooks as opposed to our previous works’ all-out intensity and such. We were definitely influenced by concept albums such as RUSH‘s ‘2112’ and QUEENSRŸCHE‘s ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ (among others) in putting together our story. This album musically is more denim, spikes, spit and vodka than anything we’ve done. Conceptually, SILENCER takes a look at the U.S-Soviet space race of the 1950s/1960s and asks some ‘what if’ questions. Lyrically, we rewind back to space race era Soviet Russia, and we chose to take a fictional turn towards what would have happened if the Russians chose to one-up the American’s moon landing by going somewhere further. We tell the story from the Russian perspective, and try to capture the mentality of a union that could mobilize their entire population to achieve a goal, and also from the perspective of a member of this mission. This sort of story almost wrote itself, and its mood lent us to write some more straightforward yet very heavy tracks. It’s definitely more thematic than prior releases, but aims to get to the point and tell a large story fairly efficiently.”

“The Great Bear” will be distributed by Vanity Music Group and will be available in stores, iTunes and Amazon MP3. Available physical formats are CD and limited edition 180-gram vinyl.

SILENCER will perform on select warm-up dates and is in the planning stages for tours following the album’s release.

“The Great Bear” track listing:

01. Sacred War
02. I Am Thunder!
03. 1969
04. Great Bear
05. Insignia
06. Star City Pt. I
07. Star City Pt. II
08. Orders/Noble Sacrifice
09. The Roar
10. Light
11. The First, The Last