Forevermore

Forevermore is a Christian metalcore act that formed in 2009. Despite their experience, they still haven't quite made it big. Despite this, since their inception they've released four full length albums and 1 EP. Those full lengths released in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 respectively, with the latter two being released under Solid State Records (same record label as Silent Planet as well as a whole handful of other bigger named bands). The first two albums and their EP were self released. Honestly, I'm very surprised that these guys still haven't made a bigger following yet. I remember first looking them up my junior year of high school when it was announced that they had signed to Solid State so I figured I'd give them a listen and I was very impressed and thought that they would be big in the next few years. To my surprise though, they have not. But there's still hope that they will in the next few years.

Their style is very unique. Their releases in the years prior to being signed are all very different from their sound now. They still keep the heavy hitting sound, but they've been slowly transitioning into a little slower and a more progressive sound with each release, at least that's how I would go about describing it so I might be wrong. Regardless, Forevermore have always had a unique sound that has just gotten more and more unique with each new album they've put out thus far. Their original vocalist, Jordan Furr, left after their second album, but their new vocalist, Kramer Lowe, has been doing an excellent job of keeping the progressing progressive sound of the band. Not only that, the band is extremely fascinated with the theory of Spiral Dynamics and even tackled this theory and made a concept album centered around it. That album was their 2016 release, Integral. I won't waste your time explaining the theory (mainly because it's really complex and would take too long for me to explain) but just know that not only is their sound a very sophisticated, and deeper sound than you usually hear from a generic metal band, but even their lyrics and themes tackle sophisticated concepts as well. Whether they stick to a sort of progressive sound or switch things up, or if they keep it up with tackling a complex theory in the form of another concept album or not, expect some new stuff from them in the coming year or so. And don't let their small fan base fool you, these guys are more than deserving of some more recognition.


Moths and Rust, is off of Forevermore's 2010 debut album with the same name.


Nascent is off of their latest album Integral. I decided to show off two songs from them to show their progression as a band and to show off the two vocalists that have graced this band.

Silent Planet

If you were to ask me who the next big breakthrough band is in metalcore, the answer is so simple. It's the Christian headbangers from California known as Silent Planet. The band consists of Garrett Russell - vocals, Thomas Freckleton - bass, keyboards, and clean vocals, Mitchell Stark - guitar, and Alex Camarena - drums. These guys have released 2 EPs, and 2 full lengths since 2012 with their first full length releasing in 2014 and their latest full length released summer of 2016. For being such a young band, these guys have already racked up quite the fan base with close to 200,000 likes on Facebook and their most popular music video has close to 800,000 views. But of course those numbers aren't as big as a lot of metalcore bands, but STILL! It's awesome seeing how many people already support these guys and they are only just getting started! I saw them in Lawrence back in November and it was just so surreal finally getting to see them and next time they make it to Lawrence I hope to see some familiar faces there, trust me guys they put on an amazing show no matter if they're headlining or opening!

Back on track though, as stated before they're a Christian band but trust me you don't have to be Christian to get into them or any other Christian band for that matter! I'm most definitely far from being religious but I love their music so much and they do an excellent job of appealing to everyone no matter their beliefs. For example, each song on their latest album Everything Was Sound has to deal with a different mental illness and they tell of a story in a way. The song Panic Room is about PTSD and tells the story of Garrett's friend who was deployed in Afghanistan and shot a man in the leg to stop him not kill him but the man ended up bleeding out and this friend of Garrett's lives with that horror like so many other people who have seen combat in any way. The song Psychescape is about schizophrenia, Nervosa deals with anorexia, etc. There's a great series of videos where Garrett talks in depth about each song and their meanings so I'll post the link to that series since I imagine you'd actually want to hear it from a member of the band explain it as opposed to me. This isn't their only album where they've done this though, their second EP lastsleep (1944-1946) tells the stories of three different World War 2 survivors and then their first full length The Night God Slept tells various stories through the eyes of female protagonists. For example, XX (City Grave) focuses on sex trafficking that's going on in America, Native Blood is about the history of the Native Americans, etc. Again, I won't get into heavy detail about each song but this gives you an idea how metal lyrics have a deep and personal meaning behind them that speak to everyone, especially Silent Planet's.

To wrap things up about Silent Planet, they're a young and talented band that's definitely going to be skyrocketing further into success in the music business. If you haven't already listened to them and you're a metalcore fan, I highly encourage you to give them a listen especially if you like Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, Architects, and Oh, Sleeper just a name a few bands that they share a similar sound with. And if you've never listened to metalcore before, Silent Planet is definitely a great start if you're looking for some heavy music with positive and heartfelt lyrics! Stay tuned for some more metalcore bands to be on the lookout for!



From their first full length The Night God Slept, Native Blood is Silent Planet's most viewed music video on YouTube.




And here's Garrett's analysis of the lyrics to Panic Room.