“They wrote us off and left our dreams for the taking”
Emerging out of the US, Stillnight join the host of bands such as End Archaic and Crystalview that are showing the depth and future talent that the scene in the states has to offer. The trio consisting of vocalist Danny Sullivan, bassist Tony Rogers, and guitarist Kody Thompson are looking to put their stamp on metalcore with their chugging riffs, heavy vocals and ambient backing atmosphere. Now with their debut record, Dream State, the unit look to unleash their vision of what they consider “post-metalcore.”
There are riffs within Dream State that are filthy, during moments on tracks such as “Torchbearer” it is difficult to not find yourself headbanging or toe-tapping along to the huge riffs present. Accompanied by Sullivan’s lows it creates a soundscape that you can envision would see some movement in a live setting. The ability for the guitar work to show such diversity on a track like “Paroxysm” with lulling clean guitar work that sits wonderfully on the ear is an impressive effort.
Dream State shines in moments scattered across the record, the feature from Kingdom of Giants’ Jonny Reeves breathes live into the latter half of the record on “Kenopsia“. On this track Reeves shows off some of the solid vocal hooks present, with the lyric “So I stay to escape the reverie” sticking in the mind. Due to the sheer length of Dream State, running at the 57 minute mark it was these moments I found myself taking away from the record. There’s a lot to like in this record, however the sheer run time can make it difficult to fully digest and appreciate. With the sound that Stillnight are going for, with plenty of double drop D, there needs to be breathing space across the album for it to be more concise.
Throughout Dream State, Stillnight show there is evident talent when it comes to song writing and some of the guitar work. With a sharper eye towards the runtime, mixing up the sound and tuning on the record, there is potential for Stillnight to become a band of note in the US scene. Dipping into various tracks across Dream State are worthwhile, with something to be found in each track to takeaway from. With what has been shown, hopefully there will be more to come from Stillnight.
7/10