Band's List Black Metal Silencer (SWE) Death - Pierce Me

Silencer have become one of the most famous(or infamous depending on how you view it) Depressive Black Metal bands of recent times. No doubt due to the rumors circulating the vocalist Nattramn. Now before I start the review I'd like to say that all the stories concerning Nattramn are completely irrelevant to the actual music. Nattramn could be a milk man and Death Pierce Me would still be an astonishing piece of work. I find it a shame that Silencer have degenerated into a bunch of stories that focus solely on Nattramn rather than on the actual music. I just hope that in the future people will realize that the stories and rumors about Nattramn are completely irrelevant to the music and that people will listen to Death Pierce Me with an open mind and realize that it is in fact a very good album.

Now onto the music. Silencer play a genre of Black Metal referred to as Depressive Black Metal. This style utilizes tortured vocals, poor production, dissonant repetitive riffs and an overall feeling of despair. However unlike a lot of depressive Black Metal bands Silencer's style of music leans much closer to standard Black Metal. Similar to bands like Abyssic Hate and Nyktalgia rather than the more doom oriented sound of bands such as Forgotten Tomb and Trist, or the more ambient/atmospheric tendencies of Gris and Coldworld. The riffs are surprisingly diverse for a Black Metal release. Most Black Metal bands specialize in creating just a few melancholic riffs and repeating them into oblivion, Hypothermia are a good example of this. However Silencer eschew the use of this style and specializing in writing multiple good riffs and incorporating them into each song. However I do tend to find that the way Silencer pulls it off, kind of kills the feelings of depression one would expect to find in a Black Metal album. Another band who uses this riff oriented style is the band Lyrinx however Lyrinx are about as crushingly depressing as possible. I often find that Silencer leans too much towards standard Black Metal and this often kills the feelings of depression and desolation one would expect to find in a depressive Black Metal album.

The use of keyboards present on this album is minimal as it is only featured in large quantities on one song; the ending track Feeble are You Sons of Sion. This is a really good way to end the album as it gives a break form the homicidal insanity that dominates the rest of this album. The keyboard playing is very good and is fairly disturbing to say the least. Now onto the most often discussed part of this release; the vocals. Death Pierce Me has got a lot of attention by apparently having the most psychotic utterly demented vocal performance of all time. It doesn't, in fact compared to other bands it falls short on several levels. In terms of insanity they are beaten by early Bethlehem with Rainer Landfermann on vocals. In terms of pure aggression they lose out to Anaal Nathrakh and they're nowhere near as ear splitting as early Fleurety. So why all the hype? Well Nattramn does have an original take on Black Metal vocals. They are very high pitched and they do sound like a little kid being ripped in half. But apart from this they're mostly devoid of any harsh quality, they sound very clean as they're is almost no crackling involved at all. His actual Black Metal rasp is actually very good. He's a very competent vocalist who definitely deserves some recognition but not as much as bands who do it better like Austere and the aforementioned Bethlehem.

Now this album isn't bad it's actually really good. I just personally feel that it gets a lot of unnecessary hype and press simply due to the vocals and the rumors circulating Nattramn. It is a very solid piece and if you're into the genre I urge you to recommend picking it up. It may not be the best release of all time, though it is an important milestone nevertheless. I suggest going into this release with an open mind and let Death Pierce Me envelop you and take you to another place.