Last Thursday, Silent Planet released a third single, “Collider” from their upcoming album. Buster Odeholm (Humanity’s Last Breath, Vildhjarta) mixed the record, while guitarist Mitch Stark contributed to the production. As with their previous song “Antimatter”, Garrett Russell sings all lead vocals, both sung and screamed. The track is a considerably heavier one than “Antimatter”, though the occasional synths Mitch adds to the mix, combined with Garrett’s dynamic vocal performance, give it a similar accessibility and crossover potential.
Along with the new single, the band also announced their new album Superbloom and the tracklist. It will also be the last one featuring bassist Thomas Freckleton, who departed the band earlier this year on good terms. The new bassist is Nick Pocock (from In Search of Solace). Superbloom is set to release “on the one year anniversary of our close encounter with the Otherside”, a reference to the van accident the band experienced on November 3, 2022. While Silent Planet was traveling through southern Wyoming en route to Salt Lake City, the driver hit black ice on I-80, causing the van to spin off the road and flip. Garrett received a concussion and temporarily lost consciousness, awakening to find his bandmates alive and safe. His experience became the lyrical inspiration for earlier single “Antimatter”.
Another source for Superbloom‘s themes is Humboldt County in northern California. Known as “Lost Cove”, the county is roughly a two-hour drive west of Redding (Shasta County) where Garrett Russell grew up, and has a reputation for UFO sightings and other paranormal encounters. This area is the inspiration for the “alien” themes that appear throughout the album.
Don’t expect the whole record to sound like “Antimatter” and “Collider”, though. During their live shows last year (including the November/December 2022 tour with The Plot in You where the van crash occurred) Silent Planet added an unreleased song to their setlist. Initially given the working title “Escape Pod” but now renamed (whichever song title it is remains unknown), it’s one of the heaviest tracks the band has ever written.
Given what we’ve heard so far from these four songs, Superbloom is shaping up to be diverse and experimental, while naturally progressing and staying true to the band’s identity. The tracklist for Superbloom is below, and the band will be on tour with Dayseeker this September. You can preorder the album at Silent Planet’s official website:
1. Lights Off the Lost Coast
2. Offworlder
3. Collider
4. Euphoria
5. Dreamwalker
6. Antimatter
7. :Signal:
8. Anunnaki
9. The Overgrowth
10. Nexus
11. Re-Entry
12. SUPERBLOOM
