It’s been a while since the last Silent Voices album – seven years, to be precise – but the saying goes that good things come to those that wait, and this definitely rings true with this release as it’s their strongest album yet.
Reveal The Change is their first to feature lead vocals from their newly announced singer Teemu Koskela (although he did provide backing vocals to their previous album Building Up The Apathy), and also has guest vocals from Mats Levén, Tony Kakko, Mike Vescera and Mike DiMeo.
The Fear Of Emptiness
Not wanting to do things by halves, the album gets going with arguably the best track of the entire release. It’s just insanely catchy and starts off simplistically, slowly building momentum and atmosphere until the whole track properly gets underway and the expertly-delivered vocals from Teemu kick in, proving in the first five seconds alone that he’s the perfect choice for the role of the band’s vocalist. His voice just has a tremendous amount of power behind it and it adds so much to the perfectly-executed instrumentation. The song is completely faultless; what a way to get the album going! It’s just a song you can listen to again and again, and never get bored of, and if this track is an indication of how the band are going to sound now that Teemu is their frontman, then we’re all in for a MASSIVE treat by the time album number five rolls round.
Honestly, it’s rarely a good idea to put the best track as the opener because the album can wind up dipping as a result due to none of the other tracks quite measuring up, but with Reveal The Change, it works perfectly, really opening the album with a bang and showing the listener the dizzying heights they’re capable of – plus, it’s a great way of showing off their brand new singer!
No Turning Back
With vocals on this one provided by Mats Levén, this is more of a slower number in comparison to the previous one, but it keeps the pace going nicely and works well after the fast and energetic pace of The Fear Of Emptiness. This one is more of a track where the band are showing off their musicianship rather than their brand new vocalist and there are some great moments in it, like some very fancy guitarwork from Timo which is backed up by some stunning keys in the background from Henrik, and it leads nicely into the third track, Reign Of Terror.
Reign Of Terror
This track has more of an old-school Silent Voices vibe, harking back to their first full-length release Chapters Of Tragedy with the overall style of the song and probably aided by the fact that this track’s vocalist, Mike Vescera, has a similar vocal style to Silent Voices’ previous vocalist Michael Henneken. This track has a massive singalong chorus with stunning vocals, and features a brilliant guitar solo before leading into what is probably the best keyboard solo on the album, which absolutely took my breath away on my first listen.
Faith In Me
Due to Silent Voices’ shared members with Sonata Arctica, it was surely always going to be a given that Tony Kakko would contribute guest vocals to Reveal The Change, but something doesn’t quite feel right about this one. The track is good, there’s no question about it – especially the drums, which are phenomenally powerful – but it just doesn’t sound like Tony’s voice quite fits into place on the track because it’s not quite suited for prog, and his signature “multi-layered” vocals don’t work here. It’s a shame, because it’s a very good track with a huge amount of potential. Still, this track will probably go down well with the curious Sonata Arctica fans who decide to check the album out, so I can’t really complain.
Black Water
The epic of the album, this is an entirely instrumental song that really gives each member a chance to show off. Back in my live review of their Cardiff show, I commented that this track is a song that really showcases each member’s playing, and it’s exactly the same story on the studio version of it, with each member of the band getting their own time to shine in the track. Racking in at just over six minutes, there’s a hell of a lot packed into the song and in essence, it’s just face-meltingly awesome. You end up noticing something new on each listen of it, as there’s so much going on within the song. Another extremely strong track.
Burning Shine
This starts off with a great little bass introduction before Mats Levén’s vocals kick in for a second round. This track is definitely more of a grower and it took me a few listens to fully appreciate it, but it’s a fantastic piece with lots of great little moments nestled into it, especially the bassline, and it’s a track you’ll soon find yourself singing along to because it just gets stuck in your head before you’ve even fully noticed.
Through My Prison Walls
The longest track of the album, it feels like an apt ending to it all, with vocals for this one provided by Mike DiMeo. The introduction is long and drawn out to give you time to fully absorb yourself into the song, with the band taking their sweet time to explore each and every idea they possibly can before fully kicking things off just after the two-minute mark, and even then it takes another minute before the vocals begin, with a heartfelt performance from DiMeo. There are some absolutely phenomenal instrumental breaks in this song which feature some of the best playing on the entire album and it just feels like a satisfying close to an all-round satisfying album.
To summarise, Reveal The Change is definitely Silent Voices best album to date and is chock-full to the brim of awesomeness. Make sure you buy this album – you won’t be disappointed.
9/10
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Get a feel for Reveal The Change by listening to the album teaser below!
