The Screams Empire is the second album by the Milanese band Silver Key. It was released in 2015 on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash with a renewed line up featuring Yuri Abietti (vocals, acoustic guitar), Roberto Buchicchio (guitars), Ivano Tognetti (bass), Davide Manara (keyboards, synthesizers) and Viviano Crimella (drums, percussion). Despite the line up changes, the band confirm here their good creative vein and all the good qualities of the debut album. Their neo-prog sound every now again veers to AOR, but you can hear also more experimental parts and jazzier passages while the lyrics deal with a social science fiction plot set in a dystopic future loosely inspired by the works of writers such as Philip K. Dick, George Orwell or Isaac Asimov.
The committed opener “Screams Behind The Whispers” is a melodic track with a strong leaning to AOR. It’s a warning against the power of media and the false appearances they conjure up, the music and lyrics invite you to look behind the curtains and to fight against the serpents huddled in the backstage of an unscrupulous political world…
Then comes the dreaming “Stargazing” that could recall Marillion and depicts in music and lyrics a strange gathering of cats on the city roofs and their mysterious concert to the stars… For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities… The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten... (quote from The Cats Of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft).
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| Silver Key 2015 |
The nervous “A.S.I. (The Singularity)” is a bitter-sweet reflection about God and technology where a new omniscient, mocking creature rises from silicon and circuits like in a video-game. Then it’s the turn of “Event Horizon” where the music and lyrics try to describe the moment when you have to face your ghosts right in the eyes. It’s the point of no return where space and time get blurred in the event horizon of an irreversible change in your life... Neo prog with a nice, jazzy middle section and a pinch of drama!
The long, complex “The Screams Empire” is a suite divided into four parts (I. Random Frequencies, II. The Arrival, III. A Quest In Time and IV. Resistance). It tells about the invasion of the Earth by peculiar alien beings, cruel reptiles that take control of the human race in a new empire where you have to scream louder than everyone else to rule and gather followers. The beautiful art work by Daniele Aimasso should give you an idea of the content of this interesting piece...
The final track “Adrift” is a heartfelt, melodic ballad that tells of the feelings of an astronaut lost in space, adrift on his starship. The music and lyrics here deal with regret and nostalgia and depict the lost words from a haunting, overwhelming past that come up riding the waves of the thoughts of the protagonist. For this piece the band shot an evocative video directed by Marcella Savino…
You can listen to the complete album HERE
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