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Myriad

The Semantics of Silence
2009
self-released

Myriad - The Semantics of Silence (Cover Artwork)

Review by: Brian
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Published on May 5th 2009

If Thursday had Waiting, Myriad has The Semantics of Silence -- a decent debut full-length of anxious, semi-atmospheric post-hardcore that seems to promise much greater things down the line. A tiny band, even in the scope of the local scene, Myriad's gone pretty overlooked despite a smart, sincere sound that clearly pulls from great influences.

The Semantics of Silence bears only a few stylistic moves from 2007's demo and the recording is only marginally better, as the guitars are still pretty fuzzy and static-laden (wouldn't a dude that was in Rival Schools get a clearer sound than this?). However, something good is definitely buried in here. Still, one can really only say it's a slight improvement, but it's definitely a bit better nonetheless.

There are still considerable flourishes in here that bring Sirens-era On the Might of Princes directly to mind, but also some Storms of Early Summer-esque Cursive and a little bit of Mineral, with somewhat fractured vocals cracking over swirling, sweeping chords and a gurgling rhythm section pushing things along.

"Former Lovers" makes a hard mark, with strenuous yells and a swift tempo change early on before a chimey riff dances along for the first more-or-less "verse." If the band's next effort has a considerably larger audience to hear it, this should definitely re-appear in re-recorded form, as it'd probably be outright fantastic tracked in a better (or actual) studio. There's great bipolar-isms in the next track too, "Role Reversal," with a perfectly gritty delivery one moment and more muttered musings the next, as well as a bridge where you think nothing less than "OTMOP," or at least "SDRE." Strong vocal parts bubble up in "Drowned Sailors Need Suit Tailors."

Myriad is moving along fairly well, but I guess some bands can only improve so much being a part-time endeavor. Hopefully they put a little more time into this project, as its potential seems boundless.

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Posted by icapped2pac on 2009-05-06 16:09:15

Halfway through "Former Lovers...", this sounds right up my alley. Thanks for another good review, Brian.

Posted by Blackjaw_x on 2009-05-05 16:14:44

Listened to the album (not the stream) a few times now, pretty sure I have a good idea of how I feel about it...

The best songs are in the middle, when the band is at their loudest and 'most post-hardcore-ish'. None of the songs are bad, but some of them are definitely better than others. Overall it doesn't blow me away, but it's definitely worth having on my computer/mp3 player and in my collection. An album usually has to amaze me by at least the third listen to get any more than 3.5 stars, so I'll give this 3.5... I'm on the beta though so it won't show up over there; just take my word for it. Note that I have given many albums worse than this a higher score in the past, but I guess for this one I'm placing it on the 'post-hardcore scale' and it's miles from Small Brown Bike and all them so I couldn't give it a 4. If I compared it to all music it'd be 4.5 or 5, compared to most music I like a 4-ish etc. Haha not sure why I felt I needed to explain myself like that...

Posted by starsxsatellites on 2009-05-05 11:22:11
My Score:

I think it's really great. :)

Posted by Blackjaw_x on 2009-05-05 08:37:20

The stream sounds fuckin' awesome.

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