Review by Luisa Mercier
“Silent Siren” is a multifaceted album, but how could it be otherwise when so many disparate personalities and influences are involved in the Underhill project? It features vocals by Martina Astner (from symphonic metal legends Therion) and MC Coppa (Marvin Hay, whose vocals have shown up in many different contests ranging from drum’n’bass to dubstep, and hip-hop) and music written by Dean Rodell, Ivan Shopov and Tim Elliot.
In the first three songs alone, trip-hop, dubstep, lounge and ska music surface, but they often are mixed together therefore to label the exact style is even more a challenge. This trend is found throughout the album, as shown by tracks like “Black Sun Butterfly”, which is equally influenced by dubstep and ska. “Night Lines” opens the album with a polished instrumental of downtempo music before vocals appear in “Blind”, which is easily compared to a Portishead ballad. You might hear influences of an myth like Dead Can Dance in the ethnic-dark atmospheres of “My Shadow” . The quintet are closer to noise on a couple of occasions (“Civil Lies” and “Creator”), and “Silent Siren” includes also heavier tracks, such as the gloomy “Rivers of Hades” and drum’n’bass based “Solace”. Variety is not something that is missed on “Silent Siren”, but I found that the album is a bit too long and may result boring on the long term.
Rating – 70/100
Tracklist
- Night Lines
- Blind
- Hiding The Light
- . Trippin
- Shadow
- The Miss
- Civil Lies
- Black Sun Butterfly
- Law Enforcement
- Silent Siren
- Podgorna
- Creator
- Rivers Of Hades
- Solace
- Blind (Balkansky Deep Woods Remix)
- Solace (remix by The Sect)
- Civil Lies (remix by Bong-Ra)
Line Up
- Martina Astner -Vocals
- Marvin Hay Aka Coppa- vocals
- Ivan Shopov Aka Cooh – producer
- Dean Rodell – producer
- Tim Eliot Aka Current Value – producer