Silverstein: A Shipwreck in the Sand

There's an old fable by a man named Aesop which has particular relevance in the case of Silverstein. A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was an escaped slave. This slave sought refuge in the cave of a lion. The lion wasn't too good at writing and didn't get enough mail to warrant a signpost, so the cave went unmarked: thus not warning the slave of his presence.

So the slave finds himself face-to-face with the lion and fears for his life. Meekly, the lion extends his paw to the slave. It seems that the lion keeps screaming at completely inappropriate moments - not even the good kind of inappropriate, we mean the predictable and nauseating kind - also, the lion roundly sucks at writing lyrics. This is a shame, because the lion wants to be a songwriter. So the slave tries his hardest to help the lion, but he is only able to stop him screaming so wildly and to improve his writing skills somewhat.

So the lion, not content with the slave's efforts, and lacking a one-year warranty on the repairs the slave carried out, decides to eat the slave. While digesting the tasty treat, he thinks to himself, "I know, I'll write a concept album".

The moral of the story is... well, I'm sure everyone can guess.

Thoughts of weighty concepts in modern alternative punk have proven transcendent to some (Thursday, Circle Takes the Square, Boys Night Out) and an anchor load of crap to others (Funeral for a Friend). While unlikely to gain entry to the first column, it's safe to say that Silverstein have very much raised their game by tackling something a little larger in scope.

While there is something of an over-arching mythology to A Shipwreck in the Sand, front-man Shane Told is still struggling to grasp the higher realm of lyrical prose. One could point to his fixation with writing from a first-person perspective. Leaving almost every line with a sense of 'this is what I'm thinking/feeling', 'this is what you did to make that happen'. There's little in the way of narrative structure throughout his lyrics, just a whole lot of repeated imagery (although, props must be awarded. The "dagger", "heart", "bleeds" drinking game won't kill you until the twelfth song this time).

These failings make this album all the more frustrating, since this time around, the rest of the band have gone beyond the call of duty in raising their game. Songs pop with moody ambience, artfully building crescendos, unremitting energy, clever interplay and the ability to convey many varying types of atmosphere and mood.

The fundamental issue with Shipwreck... is that it doesn't go far enough in its aims. While the band are pushing it as a concept album, it's more like a concept E.P with eleven other tracks packed around it. The songs which do ascribe to the conceptual themes are by far the best. The title track commences by laying down a tale of men in the pursuit of something greater, men who are torn apart by their selfish greed. As such, their aims are 'shipwrecked' because of their petty differences and squabbles. Such an allegorical story could be applied to many things. It could be a tale of mankind's life under God, the pursuit of happiness in a democratic system, even a relationship despoiled by a lack of sacrifice. Loyalty in this day and age, sadly always seems to come with a price tag. This level of subtext is hitherto unheard of in a Silverstein song, throwing into stark focus the rest of the song which make the album. "I Am the Arsonist": dude's girl cheats on him, he fantasises about killing them. "You're All I Have" doesn't even require analysis beyond the title. Same goes for "I Knew I Couldn't Trust You".

Could we excise "Their Lips Sink Ships", "A Shipwreck in the Sand", "The Tide Raises Every Ship " and "The End", spinning them off into their own record, we'd have a fairly impressive EP on our hands. The duet with Canadian songwriter Lights on "The End" proves a slightly cliché, yet thoroughly enjoyable finale to the album.

The issue with the band seems to be that the other four members are swiftly outgrowing front-man Shane Told. He does show some inclination of progressing in the right direction, but it's a case of the hare and the tortoise. As you may know, the hare races to the finish line, gets bored waiting, collects his medal and book voucher before venturing off to the shops to enjoy the spoils of his victory. The tortoise, for his part, learns a hard lesson about committing to a long-distance race on a busy road used for transportation of goods after a Polish lorry driver, distracted by his Sat Nav system crushes him without an inkling of the life he has taken.

The boys have got the screaming thoroughly in its place now. Resolutely hardcore in style and actually abrasive in nature, they no longer sound like the Blue Peter version of Billy Talent. All we await now is for Mr. Told to aim higher, drop the adolescent whine every time he holds a note and try to make his lyrics more interesting narratively. There's evidence that it's entirely possible presented on Shipwreck.... Maybe then, they'll exhume themselves from the rut of just-beyond-mediocrity which they find themselves in.