Silent Planet’s “Antimatter”, an ambient/industrial influenced metalcore banger, was a real breakout moment for the band. Lyrically inspired by a harrowing van accident frontman Garrett Russell and his bandmates experienced on November 3, 2022, the song carries an ethereal, sensual, and dissociative atmosphere that hit home with many listeners. Garrett mentioned fellow Los Angeles band HEALTH as an influence on the industrial and electronic textures of the song. While the band has experimented in the past with tracks like the haunting “Terminal”, Silent Planet has never really made a song quite like “Antimatter” before.
Six months later, the momentum for “Antimatter” is still going strong. Most significantly, it’s one of the top current tracks in rotation at SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal station. In a 30-day span in December 2023, “Antimatter” garnered 139 spins on Liquid Metal, making it the nationwide satellite radio station’s second most played song behind Orbit Culture’s “While We Serve”, with 168 plays. You can think of Liquid Metal as a much heavier counterpart to Octane (with a more diverse playlist as well that covers both legacy and current artists). Given that Silent Planet hadn’t received airplay on SiriusXM with any song before “Antimatter” or really had any song that broke through to a wider audience, it’s quite the impressive showing.
“Antimatter” first aired on Liquid Metal during Spiritbox’s artist takeover on November 3, 2023 – the release date for both Silent Planet’s new album Superbloom and Spiritbox’s EP The Fear of Fear). Courtney LaPlante is a fan of the track, and among the musicians reaching out to help Silent Planet get back on their feet after their van accident. Since then, the station has currently played “Antimatter” 224 times in two months. The only songs with more plays in that span of time are supergroup Better Lovers’ “Two Alive Amongst the Dead” with 232 and Ice Nine Kills’ “Meat and Greet” with 248. (Spiritbox’s “Cellar Door” is also in the current Liquid Metal rotation.) While the song’s initial success was unexpected, gaining one million Spotify streams three weeks after its July release, the additional support from Spiritbox certainly is helping introduce more people to Silent Planet and their impressive discography.
Though some bands in the scene have clearly distanced themselves from their metalcore roots to gain radio play and a wider audience, Silent Planet’s success with “Antimatter” comes across like natural progression for them. The song is distinctly Silent Planet, while covering new ground for them. Additionally, the new album Superbloom, a conceptual release inspired by supernatural lore from the region of Northern California where Garrett Russell grew up, is experimental in nature. The record contains arguably the band’s two heaviest songs to date, back to back – the dark, dissociative “:Signal:” and aggressive “Annunaki” – as well as the melodic singles “Antimatter” and “Collider”.
“Antimatter” is soon set to eclipse 2020’s “Trilogy” as the most played track in the band’s catalog. Both songs are approaching 6 million plays on Spotify, but “Antimatter” reached 1 million within three weeks of its release, when “Trilogy” had 5.3 million plays. Silent Planet will be headlining a U.S. tour with Thornhill, Johnny Booth, and Aviana in January and February. The band will be playing their newest album Superbloom in its entirety during these shows.
Silent Planet plans to tour extensively throughout 2024, so make sure to catch a show if they come near your city. Frontman Garrett Russell had this to say on New Year’s Eve:
2023 has been the year of SUPERBLOOM. After surviving last year’s wreck, we went into the studio with the goal of reinventing our sound and rediscovering the joy that started this band 14 years ago. It would be impossible to fully express our gratitude to everyone who has stuck around through all the changes, but if you ever have a chance to meet us face-to-face, I think it will be apparent. SUPERBLOOM is a lot of things, but most of all, a love letter to those who have shared in this adventure, because this can’t be a dream if it’s not with you.
We have extensive touring plans for 2024, starting with our headline tour in less than a month. We can’t wait to bring these new tracks to life every night and show you what’s next.
See you on the other side…
