Steve Gilmore Reviews: Silvertrain - Empty

Hear The Track Here

Artist: Silvertrain
Title: Empty

I seem to have spent almost the whole of 2005 berating John and Ritchie (aka Silvertrain) to get a grip and get some new material out there, as well as batting the n dozen million demos that John has shot my way, all of which - I am sure - we are all heartily sick and tired of. Not that I have anything against John's songs, even in the demo form but when you put it against the classics they issued a couple of years ago, it doesn't compare. It doesn't stop them garnering the attention they deserve but I still feel they are coasting off tracks that are decidely showing their age - at elast for someone who has listened to their entire repertoire several million times.

Empty is, in fact, a bit of a change from ANY of the tracks I have heard since The One To Blame CD and one I sincerely hope makes its way into the next recording session. The first reason is - of course - the fact that is so different from the 'normal' (read softer, gentler) Silvertrain we have become used to over the past year. Empty is a much harder edged proposition and bears some resemblence to the rockier side of Silvertrain I first picked up on and loved. Tracks like One Night Stand and The Night I Died probably came from roots similar to this, and believe me that can only be a very good thing indeed. Admittedly, you'd have to picture what this may sound like in a 'proper' arrangement but what's here isn't too shabby at all.

It's a pretty straightforward classic rock song, with a fairly ploddy beat that would be picked up enormously with the inclusion of a live drummer as I found the timing a bit suspect. Nonetheless, the bulk of the track is carried by a guitar riff and accompanying bits that more than adequately hold the track up, allowing the vocals to carry the main feel of the song. A bit of a broody monster this boy too, a vastly different beast to the cuddly warmth I have come to associate with ST's ouput of late. If this one DOESN'T make the cut for the next recording session, I will no doubt be back on my high horse before you can shout 'damn nitpicker'. In the meantime, take a listen to what first attracted me to this UK band, and maybe you can also see the future of rock as we know it... (Ed: Bit strong Gilmore, are you still having those delusions of critical grandeur? Don't think for one second this is going to get you a holiday...)