A scorching debut album has just been dropped by a fresh quartet that promises a mountainous, earth-shattering rock sound with subtle-but-potent hints of folk. The Appalachian Silver Doors are debuting with a loud bang.
Hailing from the Appalachian city of Asheville, North Carolina, The Silver Doors are a four-piece rock outfit composed of Brett Kent on the bass and voice, Alex Cox on guitar, Bryce Alberghini on drums, and Justing Lawrence on violin. The band’s debut is a self-titled, 8-song portfolio of the quartet’s spectacular abilities, namely a superb knack for writing tight and immersive songs, a great variation in sound, from heavy-hitting, sludgy, riff rock, to bass-driven light punk a-la Stone Temple Pilots, to string-laden and melodic folk rock, all neatly packed in an album that ends too soon, mixed and mastered by veteran producer Alex Farrar.
A stream that seems to connect all 8 songs on the album is a particular, earthen sound to the mix, delightfully capturing the band’s mountainous origins with expansive reverbs and borderline-minimal arrangements that sound rugged and mystical. The band’s safe bet lies in their ability to weave engaging riffs that utilize dissonance to instill a sense of danger and unfamiliarity, leagues apart from the comfort of blues-based riffs that we have grown a little too accustomed to. With ‘Holding Patterns’ as a prime example of the band’s riffing qualities, the song also features a minimal mix that revolves around looming riffs and atmospheric wails from distorted guitars, as well as a snaking structure that never settles, all adding up to create a rich alternative rock journey.
Moving backwards through the song list, the trio of ‘Bulleteeth’, ‘Legwork’, and ‘Gone’ was enough to convince me that I’m discovering the not-too-humble beginnings of a special rock outfit. Fluently shifting from the aggressive, rapid-fire riffs and pace of ‘Bulleteeth’, that features shapeshifting rhythms and group howls, next to an incredibly charismatic main vocal part by Brett Kent, to the breezy and gentle drive of ‘Legwork’, featuring straightforward bass and drum grooves, supporting memorable guitar lines and vocal melodies, all melting ever so smoothly into ‘Gone’, my personal favorite on the record. A sprawling ballad, ‘Gone’ is soft and sad, loaded with melancholy and character, stirring violin solos, touching words, and bold songwriting. The album’s longest cut, the song never feels stale in spite of having fewer moving parts in relation to the rest of the album’s songs. A spectacular display of artful restraint that pays off incredibly well.
It would not be fair to conclude without mentioning ‘Shattered’. A song that starts with wandering riffs and vocals, utilizing a clean, arpeggiated guitar part, the song then progresses using a snaking violin part that keeps evolving until it engulfs the song in its hypnotizing, never-ending climb. There is no shortage in highlights on The Silver Doors’s debut, and there’s no shortage of performances, arrangements, riffs, or musical ideas that clearly display the level of skill and artistic vision that the quartet is operating on. A sublime, fresh, and exciting debut.
