SILHOUETTES

Edit: While this is a good album, over some more time, I don't think it's quite a masterpiece, as some of the pieces feel a bit too samey. However, this is a still a worthwhile tech/extreme album to check out.

This is finally the album that I was hoping Textures would release. "Drawing Circles" had shown us what kind of potential the band has in them and I firmly believe they've finally realized that potential with this release.

"Silhouettes" is still the same brand of fairly technical death metal that Textures has provided us with in the past, but this is by far their most melodic album so far. What we saw in bits and pieces on "Drawing Circles" has come together to form full songs. Eric Kalsbeek also utilizes his clean vocals much more frequently ("Awake" and "Messengers" stand out the most). The synths also have a much more powerful punch to their sound, even more so than previously, but still add the same beauty that makes the music of Textures so captivating. This is also probably the most accessible release from them to date because of how melodic this album is. But at the same time, it's still quite brutal music. Really, this release is more of everything Textures is great at doing with more melody and intensity.

I think that with this release, Textures affirmed my beliefs that they're on their way to the upper crust of the new wave of tech/extreme bands. Another release as good as this and hopefully people will start talking about them more. With an album as amazing as "Silhouettes" sounds, I have to give this a 5 star ranking. I really can't find any fault with this album and tech/extreme fans should get themselves acquainted with this fabulous release.