A BROKEN TRUCE

"Those keys! Oh, those keys!" That is what I say every time I listen to this album. Violent Silence is a band from Sweden with a penchant for unique and proggy music. "A Broken Truce" is their third album, and it actually took about eight years to get it made. That is understandable as the members have been busy in other endeavors. Both Bjorn Westen and Hannes Ljunghall, the primary keyboardists, had been busy with another group called Hidden Lands (if you get a chance to hear them, be sure you do!). So, the band is back together again, and they have come out swinging.

"A Broken Truce" is made up of only four tracks, all of them over ten minutes in length. These "epics", if you will, are lush, full, and never pointless. Indeed, there is no filler here at all. The band's promo sheet says that their music is "detailed", and for once I agree with a promo sheet. This music is layered, meaningful, and always moving, There are so many fragile subtleties that require keen attention in order to appreciate this album fully. Yes, I think headphones are required.

The band has a sound that few share. Active, cymbal-laden drumming meets with deep bass and amazing keys. There are no guitars here as far as I can tell. And you know what? They don't need any. The dual keyboardists sound amazing together, especially since they have such unique synth settings. They sound somewhat spacey, but lush and organic, too. It's a special sound that I just love, and "A Broken Truce" hands down contains some of the best keyboard work of 2013.

The vocalist has an interesting voice that never seems to sound the same. It is somewhat high-pitched, but he manages his voice expertly. He phrases his lines in strangely beautiful fashions, especially on my favorite track "Rim of Clouds". His voice is playful, yet focused; humble, yet confident. It's a voice that grows on you more and more with each listen.

Violent Silence's long-awaited album is no disappointment. It meshes amazing elements with mature ideas and performances to craft one of the most interesting albums of the year. Any serious prog fan should give this a listen.

Violent Silence was a bit of a surprise, one of those bands that takes me a couple of listens to get into, not because of music that is not accessible (their tunes are very approachable), but for some reason I didn't appreciate it as much the first time. Once I got into it though, I found Violent Silence to be a group with a familiar yet interesting compositional direction that emphasizes the use of simple themes and melodies and moves the tracks along with clear and powerful vocals. Being an album of just four songs, I couldn't help but love the format of lengthy pieces that really let the ideas breathe and develop on their own without being in a rush to squeeze in a formulaic number of verses and choruses. The opener, "Prism Path" is a great example of this, particularly as you start to reach the last few minutes of the piece where the band makes use of subtle repetition, growing dynamics, striking vocals, and the reintroduction of an earlier theme to round off the song. Fans of neo-prog or 90′s revival ala' Morse or TFK should dig this.