Silverstein – Antibloom | Album Review

Scene legends Silverstein are back with a new album, but will it be a victory lap or the beginning of a curtain call?

Five Canadian emos walk into a desert. It might sound like the set up to a joke but it is in fact the origin story behind Silverstein’s twelfth studio album Antibloom. The Ontario post-hardcore band ventured into an isolated recording studio in California and left with 25 completed demos, which they’ve narrowed down into two eight-track albums. First up is Antibloom, with Pink Moon due to be released later this year. With this year being Silverstein’s 25th anniversary, the pressure’s on to show they’re still that same heavy-hitting band that produced emo anthems like ‘My Heroine’ and ‘Smile In Your Sleep’ back in the 2000s.

Of course, with a band this well-established in the scene, there will always be a solid core of longtime fans, but 2025 is a huge opportunity for Silverstein to capture a new audience. Antibloom comes out swinging with the opening track ‘Mercy Mercy’. It smacks you in the face with a crushing riff and lyrics tackling the modern plague of doomscrolling – something many of us are guilty of – before moving over into borderline metal territory. But where there are highlights like ‘Mercy Mercy’ and the blistering grief-stricken ‘Skin & Bones’ that show why Silverstein are such legends, there are just as many tracks that make you question if they can keep the momentum going.

Take the aptly-titled ‘A Little Fight’ – a 90 second pop-tinged song that belongs more to the Sum 41 side of the noughties scene, rather than for the emo hardcore kids. There’s potential in ‘Confession’ with its soaring melodic chorus, but it’s let down by some slightly cliche lyrics (tick off ‘undertow’ on your bingo card, folks). Regardless of lyrics, frontman Shane Told’s voice is on top form throughout this record. On almost every track he effortlessly shifts from screams to clean vocals to craft that quintessential Silverstein duality.

Some of the most impressive vocals are on penultimate track ‘Stress’ – a relentless slice of post-hardcore that will undoubtedly be the cause of some pretty brutal moshing at future Silverstein shows. It’s easy to imagine yelling “either I die or live forever” before inevitably crashing into that one shirtless guy in every pit. Antibloom does have its strong points but is ultimately a bit of a mixed bag. We can only wait and see which side of the track Pink Moon will land on.