album review ! :3
silverstein - discovering the waterfront (2005)
xxherlastwalkxx 01/09/2024
it should come as no surprise to anyone that's been following this site that this is my favorite album of all time. i know, i know, that's quite a claim to back up. i probably won't do it justice but, regardless, it's about time i talked about it
discovering the waterfront is the second album of the canadian posthardcore band silverstein. it is undoubtedly their most influential work, and the record is a staple of 2000's posthardcore-type emo. it's questionable to call it "timeless," as it's difficult to separate it from the time period and musical landscape during which it was born, but it has nonetheless stood the test of time. the production, while not as "up to standard" as the band's later albums (especially their latest two releases), is still clean. the performances really shine here, the production refusing to get in the wayby being "imperfect" yet still allowing the recordings to sound well-defined. the performances are more mature than those on when broken is easily fixed, the album that preceded this one, yet the band had yet to mature into the band we know them to be today.
this relative immaturity, however, is perhaps the album's greatest strength. this sort of "refined immaturity" is very indicative of the 2000s sound that i mentioned before and works incredibly well with the songwriting and instrumentation. the songs are fast, loud and chaotic despite being pretty, melodic and poppy. songs like "already dead" and "three hours back" seem unconventional when paired with songs like "fist wrapped in blood" and "defend you," yet amazingly the each song earns its spot on the tracklist, for despite being stylistically varied, the whole album has a distinct feel to it that cannot be ignored for individual tracks. discovering the waterfront is surprisingly unique album for the scene that it is associated with, but it never loses sight amidst its experimentation. it's weird, but it's still pretty. and, frankly, i've bonded pretty heavily with this album. after all, don't we only listen to music because it makes us feel things? discovering the waterfront is an emotion that can't be replicated. my favorite album of all time.
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