Silver Tears: Dirt Beyond Beauty

For those notin the know, Silver Tears is a Prog-metal outfit from Guwahati. Dirt BeyondBeauty is the band’s debut E.p, which they’re presently giving away free. If you ever need an instance of howrather sub-par vocals can disrupt an album then I recommend you put this one onyour download list. It is a point I’ve seen raised in many facebook/orkutforums, and I cannot help but agree.

Agreed, vocalist Johny Karan Marakisn’t in possession of the nastiest pipes ever, and his style does fit a trackor two, but for the most parts they spoil what is otherwise a rather extremely solidalbum. If you like stuff like Dream Theater, Textures and Symphony X thenyou’ll surely value what these guys are doing on “Dirt Beyond Beauty”, as thealbum rocks and thrashes along the same progressive/experimental vein, withcrunchy, groovy riffs and shrewd drum beats fitting in nicely to bring to mindalbums like “Silhouettes” and “Divine wings of tragedy”. It’s an extremely guitar-orientedalbum, something the throbbing production job also clearly highlights. Duo IshanDas and Brittanta Das Mahanta churn out some wicked grooves when need be (“Drifter”)and are also not above hammering away wildly in numbers like “EuphoniousOdyssey” and “Dirt Beyond Beauty” and the accompanying wild-dynamics presentswhat is by far the most impressive aspect of the album. The bass-work is alsohighly eventful once in a while.Their brand of Modern/Experimental Prog-metalsounds so similar to Dream Theater on these tracks that you’d be forgiven forexpecting James LaBrie’s distinctive drone to come blaringthrough your headphones. But alas, you’ll have to settle for Marak. He isn’t abad vocalist- mind you, as he certainly shows a lot of range and emotion on “DeepWithin” but for the most part his otherwise high-flying vocal lines don’t synchup with what the guitars are doing. He has range but in my modest opinion hedoesn’t always use it well. Apart from this moan, the album is packed withenough cool riffs and multi-faceted arrangements to provide a very enjoyablelisten.   

However,according to Marak ST’s debut contains the most motivated music they’ve evermade. “Brothers Amitabh and Siddharth Barooa- from Lucid Recess Studios helpedus open up our perception of what our music could be” explains Marak. “Werealized that we were entering a new domain with our E.p. Now, we exactly knowwhat we sound like- and how we want to sound like in the future. Our MO hasbeen- to just brainstorm and work towards a sound that sets itself apart fromanything in the scene today- yeah that might sound end up sounding eerie- butI’m sure listeners will eventually understand” he adds.

We do agree with what Marak says toan extent. From the awesome guitar tone and high-register dynamics, to theheart-touching synth-work, “Dirt Beyond Beauty” sounds extremely authentic in ascene where bands are steadily sounding manufactured by the day. Add to thatthe driving, immediate song-craft and a few more catchy hooks, and Silver Tearswill have a solid formula for success.

Here’s hoping that a tighter andbetter produced full length is in the making.