Review by Aishwarya Uniyal

So,sometime back I had ‘heard of’ the band called Silver Tears but never got a chance to ‘hear’ them. Call it fate, they were nice enough to mail me their EP titled “Ensnared” as soon as I wrote my last review on The Cynic.

As I went through this 3 song work of art, I instantly got my answer to why the north east has been hailed as a hub for fresh and beautiful musical ideas since..Adam. Haha. Silver Tears is a Guwahati based Progressive/Experimental act, which consists of Girish Pradhan on the vocals, Brittanta and Ishaan on the guitars, Raktim on the keyboards, Biswajit on the bass guitar and Nawaz on the drums. This 3 tracker is a re-release of their “Dirt Beyond Beauty” EP which was re-recorded mixed and mastered by Siddharth Barooa(of The Lucid Recess fame and has done a wonderful job) The band also offered fans to sample their songs online on their reverbnation page afterwhich the CD can be purchased for Rs. 100 with a bonus track. The album art is beautifully made by Saloni Sinha and just gives you whole new meaning to being ensnared (by oneself?) and a whole new space to think about.

The first song, Dirt Beyond beauty’s intro pushes me into a warm filling tone if Tosin abasi ruled the planet, that only brings a smile on your face because you know whats coming for you. The song’s jazz juices linger in one’s mind even though it rapidly shapes itself from one riff to another. The vocals,have that power metal feel to them with the right dose of LaBrie and originality whereas the drums go well with the riffs managing to retain that complexity in playing. All those layers…yeah baby. Its an interesting song, though a few extra riffs could make it something longer to hear and relish. The subliminal presence of keyboards pushes you deeper into their minds, somehow these guys made me realise and appreciate the importance of keyboards in a band. Yes, I dont like Bodom.

Drifter, the next song, is a fine example how dissonance can be built to a beautiful song.Right there. I just love the guitarists, have the power to convey what and why made them write/compose a particular riff or solo. The vocals have this ballad feel to them and I think this is something which we really need amidst all that growling/pigsqueals/screeches/burps. The bass is present all the while giving you that filling audio experience through that narrow tunnel of what we call ears which brings me to that awestruck feeling you will get when you feel these guys’ skills sinking right into you. It gets a sudden kink and it slows down to one “Petrucci-Portnoy” bridge before kicking into the solo.

Euphonious Odyssey starts with the ambiance as if you are swimming somewhere deep in the Mediterranian, this song is pure and free flow of emotions. It slows down in the middle and then speeds up heavily afterwhich,into a short lick which disfigures the shape the song was taking, it just killed the “progression”. But,all of it manages to come back to the point and then the finale kicks in , which is a guitar-synth solo outro.

This is a wonderful EP, I wish the guys luck and hope to see them Live in Delhi soon.They just won a fan.

I rate “Ensnared” – 8/10