One of the best things about hardcore and metal core over the last few years is the explosion in artists who are willing to be a little more experimental within their genre. Within those experimentations, a combination of soft atmospherics with heavy, explosive riffs has become a personal favourite for me. But getting the balance right can be hard.

156/Silence open their new record From A Distance with a sample from outstanding TV show Severance on Control Burns. The track flows with dreamy, ambient vibes into sinister clean guitar passages that gradually build to explosive, bludgeoning guitar chugs and a savage screamed vocal. It’s a great start that really sets the tone for the rest of the album to come. No Arms immediately follows with pulsing goth synths, a Deftones inspired clean vocal and groovy riff that’s really satisfying. If every track is this good, then From A Distance should easily be in with a shot at album of the year.

The rest of the record flies by with a flurry of different experiments. Order & Entropy pushes break beats to the background under peaceful synths, post-hardcore choruses and a very pleasant clean vocal over the verses. The swirling strings after the beat down on Swept From Under (Call of the Void) are beautiful, really drawing the song into its conclusion with a sense of vulnerability. The seductive bass groove on An Early Exit slinks beneath reverb soaked piano chords. Collateral’s menacing synths creep down your spine, propelling the song forward with tight four-on-the-floor drumming. The guest vocals from Crippling Alcoholism really enhance the horrific soundscape of this track and it’s a true highlight of the album.

It does feel like by the half way point 156 have run out of steam for new ideas. Cannon Fodder has the nice change of pace of Mike Hranica appearing for a guest spot. Secret Room however takes the spooky synth approach from Collateral and attaches it to a sleepy, drive-less riff. Proxy Idols ditches it’s groovy synth intro for more functional chugging and spacey strings and clean vocals. Sprinkling a synth line into the chorus of Phoenix Dies does nothing to make it stand out from so many other modern metalcore with a similar song structure and musical canvas. The title track does redeem the end of the record slightly, serving as a melancholic piano-led ballad with vocal performances that really sell the emotion. It’s an excellent even if it’s not groundbreaking.

So what was all this about balance I mentioned earlier? Well I have one question when it comes to this record that stops it from being a truly great album. Where are all the Riffs? One of the true delights of this kind of music is when an explosive, capital R, Riff comes in after a more mellow moment. Sure, there’s a lot of chugging here. But for an album that’s twelve tracks long, it’s sparse on memorable riffs. I’ve already mentioned No Arms, which I will reiterate is fantastic. Collatoral’s churning, insistent heavy riffing is absolutely wonderful as well – better than No Arms by a hair, but leagues ahead of the rest of the album. If I stretch I can include Cannon Fodder, while it’s not a style of riff I like, it’s more identifiable than much of the record.

The problem really is that when the experiments aren’t working out on the last half of the record, there’s no pay off to the tension they’re trying to create. This record needs riffs and they’re just not here. As a result, it collapses in on itself, a beautiful cathedral that disintegrates because the architect forgot to include enough support struts.

From A Distance is almost a great record, but I can’t, in good conscience recommend it to anyone. It’s just missing one of the most important components of this kind of music. 156/Silence have been plugging away for six albums now and I’m sure they’ll have more ideas to try out next time around, so we can allow them one misstep, I think. But this isn’t it.