SILENT CIVILIAN’S “ATONEMENT” IS, LIKE, SO 2004

I enjoyed a handful of tracks off of Silent Civilian’s 2006 debut, Rebirth of the Temple; I seem to recall “Bitter Pill” having a pretty cool guitar solo and a catchy chorus. It was certainly better than front man Jonny Santos’ other, more famous band, Spineshuck. So we were stoked to hear what SC came up with for their sophomore effort.

Unfortunately, the new song they debuted last April, “The Last One Standing,” was, in Vince’s words, “a little bit meh.” And a new track the band has just debuted at Revolver, “Atonement,” is pretty much more of the same.

The problem isn’t just that Silent Civilian have shown no artistic growth in the years since Rebirth; it’s that they’ve somehow lost the ability to write a memorable hook. This song sounds dated to just a few years ago, the same way Spineshuck sounded dated almost immediately upon its release. It makes you wonder if Santos’ next band will be a deathcore group with no creative longevity whatsoever.

You can check out the track here. Ghost Stories, the new album from Silent Civilian, comes out May 18 on Mediaskare/Century.

-AR