$6.00
zum25 (on Zum)
"We have been fans of Silentist since hearing the first EP, Nightingales. We also put out the solo piano music of Mark Evan Burden, but Silentist is a different natured project, although it prominently features the piano. Alaska native Burden released another CD EP, "Chariot Swing", under entirely his own design with the death metal-meets-new music sound that is built around howling vocals, complex drumming, piano and bass. By the time of House On the Hill, August Alston (Lords of Light, Pig Heart Transplant, Walls) joined on vocals and lyrics and added an exponential level of brooding creepiness and intensity. The latest album and first vinyl release, the self-titled Silentist LP, coalesces these elements and made a few top ten lists of 2008. Ed Rodriguez (Deerhoof, Flying Luttenbachers) calls it "Nancarrow or Reich with blast beats." The Tunnel EP comes from the same recording sessions as this album and is the first Silentist release that is not on Burden's Celestial Gang imprint." - Zum"
"Dreamy minor key melodicism jammed up against lightning fast blast beats, howled tortured vocals draped over sweetly melancholy ambience, dizzying and confusing, but so fucking great...this is some totally insane, totally unique, and absolutely fantastic stuff." - Aquarius Records
"I first heard them when it was just one guy (Mark Burden), playing music I'd describe as dark, mathy metal-jazz, but after adding a vocalist and releasing two EPs in 2006, Silentist seems more like horror grind now-- perhaps reminiscent of Painkiller (minus the sax solos, of course). " - Dominique Leone, Pitchfork