Make no mistake, Doom metal is excellent in it’s many forms, but sometimes a whole album of gloom can be hard work, especially if you are in a good mood! If you do happen to be in a good mood then Subsilence are able to help you out. ‘Granite Planet’ is unmistakably a Doom record. The riffs are heavy and bleak and the vocals are mainly of the growling variety. What sets this album apart from the pack is the regular changes in pace. Especially prominent in the first half of the album and indeed the first track ‘I am Megalodon’, the band are not against breaking into a Stoner-type gallop. This is a formula that makes ‘Granite Planet’ all the more interesting throughout.
Of course Doom and Stoner aren’t a million miles apart in musical genres, it’s not like they are throwing in a dose of Dubstep at every interval, but we won’t go there… The mix does give this album an extra dimension; regular changes in pace keep you engaged. It’s nice to hear a band playing what they want to play, not restrained by one particular sound.
The music here is great, there are some excellent arrangements and the tracks all stand out by themselves. On the whole the vocals are also a good fit for the music. When in growling mode they are spot on. At certain points when the growling moves towards singing however, it tends to fall a bit flat. This is a minor grumble though and not too much is lost because of it.
As you would expect from a Doom album there are some meaty tracks here, ‘Gravity Well’, ‘Bonds’ and ‘To Change is to Die’ all go over the eight-minute mark. The nine tracks on the album easily push it to the hour mark so there is a lot to take in. That said, there is no filler, the tracks flow well and nothing on ‘Granite Planet’ seems unnecessary.
Some of the Doom purists may be alarmed by the upbeat nature of some of the music here, but this may just pleasantly surprise anyone with an interest in something a little bit different.
‘Granite Planet’ is available from £1 and upwards from http://subsilence.bandcamp.com/
Band Name : Subsilence
Year Formed : 2007 (jesus has it been that long?!)
Location : Guildford
Current Lineup :
Pete Lamport – vocals
Ana Lyn-Smith – bass
Ed Cornish – guitar
Rich Hartley – drums
Brief History :
Subsilence started life the latter end of 2007 when Ed started listening to too much Candlemass and learned how to write riffs. After filling a book of ideas he scoured the planet looking for the world’s finest doom musicians, but in the end had to settle for Pete, Ana and Rich – who were basically just the only chumps in the area with enough time on their hands.
And the music was good; a big riff-tacular mix of heavyness, growling vocals, grooving drums and nimble bass lines. Comparisons to Cathedral, Orange Goblin, Entombed, Electric Wizard, St. Vitus, Iron Monkey, The Sword and Kyuss have all been mentioned.
Subsilence has had a journey full of ups and downs, with members balancing University study, day jobs, and relationships against rehearsal time and gigging. After a few false starts, they recorded an EP (available as ‘Uncanny Valley’ on their website) in a weekend at Strangeways Studios in Manchester, under the watchful eye of Atavist/Winterfylleth frontman Chris Naughton.
Soon after, galvanised by the experience, they took the plunge and began recording an entire album from the comfort of Ed’s home studio. That album is now here. Clocking in at an hour, Granite Planet is a hefty chunk of modern Doom, cataloging the 4-year journey of Subsilence and setting the stage for the future.
Career Highlight :
Playing with bands like Dead Existence, Dopefight, XIII Boar and Enos was awesome, but probably getting asked back to the Green Door Store in Brighton twice was a big honour.
Plans For The Future :
More gigs! We’re still trying to chisel our way into the doom scene and get our name out there whilst all working full-time jobs. Another album is being written; when it lands we’ve no idea but the songs we’re writing are getting better and better.
Interesting Stuff :
We’re not a very stereotypical doom band. We’re from Guildford, we’ve got fast sections which just confuse the doom fans; slow sections which confuse the other metal fans, we’ve got a woman in the band, we’ve got more members with short hair than long (especially when Ana shaves her head). Know what? We don’t really care – we do what we do because we love it and whilst we’d like people to like us, we don’t give a shit if they don’t because we know we play a genre of music no-one really likes, and do it our own way anyway. We don’t write songs to be the same or different to anyone else; we just see what comes out. We just do our thing and hope people like it.
Ideal tour-mates : Black Sabbath. When they were young.
Dream rider : Spare ribs for Rich, vodka for Ana, Pork Farms pasties for Pete (lots of them) and tofu for Ed. And, like, beer and stuff.
Subsilence on the Web :
Band Website : www.subsilence.co.uk
Facebook : www.facebook.com/subsilence
Bigcartel : www.subsilence.bigcartel.com
Bandcamp : http://subsilence.bandcamp.com/
iTunes : http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/subsilence/id456310175?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
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