Silencer – The Great Bear (2012)

The Great Bear is my first experience with Denver, Colorado, metal band Silencer. Although over past 10 years, they've had some domestic and international success with their version of American thrash metal. The Great Bear is intended to be a concept album, one considering alternative history.

Revisiting the early space race between the United States and Russia, Silencer wonder what would have happened if Russia "chose to one-up the American's moon landing by going somewhere further." They tell the story from the perspective of the Russian nation and an individual member of the mission. Sounds promising, right? But how does it pan out?

First, while the album has 11 songs,The Great Bear is a short album, on 30 minutes long. But if you knock the one spoken piece, 1969, and the last piece, which sounds like the Russian national anthem, then you're down to nine songs and just better than 27 minutes. If it weren't for quantity of songs The Great Bear might have been considered an EP. Second, Silencer's music is more heavy metal and less thrash. It's more like meat and potatoes Eighties traditional metal, with a side of thrash thrown in. Alternatively, Silencer packs a lot into many of the songs, mostly a big bass line and massive amounts of riffage, with a guitar solo now and then. Of these tracks Great Bear, Star City, The Roar, and Orders/Sacrifice are the best picks.

Fundamentally, with The Great Bear, Silencer's desire is to propel the story with the music, as any good concept album should. Yet, considering the album's brevity some may feel that something is missing, that they didn't get enough. Nevertheless, consider what Shakespeare once said, 'brevity is the soul of wit.' Recommended.

01. Sacred War
02. I Am Thunder!
03. 1969
04. Great Bear
05. Insignia
06. Star City Pt. I
07. Star City Pt. II
08. Orders/Noble Sacrifice
09. The Roar
10. Light
11. The First, The Last

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More Information

Denver thrashers Silencer will release "The Great Bear" on September 25th. The album is the group's third full-length release and its first concept record. The band has this to say about the music of "The Great Bear," an approach that took the band back to its heavy metal roots.

Listen to The Great Bear by Silencer on Apple Music. Stream songs including "Sacred War", "I Am Thunder!" and more.

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2012 CD release of "The Great Bear" on Discogs.

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