Friday, March 23, 2018

Surrounded by Silence


Surrounded by Silence is the debut song/music video by the band Design The Skyline, and let us just say they left an impact they probably weren't expecting. This song has been panned by critics and listeners of music, with some even actually asking Victory records to kick them off the label mainly due to the actual song (and their image but that's a stupid thing to criticize) and I'm here to tell you that I actually enjoy this song and this band. 

So the video begins with keyboards playing, while showing us some shots of a forest with some quick cuts of a snowy forest. Then the actual song begins, most people stated that the song just sounds like a bunch of random noises jumbled together and I can see that argument. Though I see it as some friends who decided to just jam out and see where it would lead them. On their Youtube channel, they listed this song as Experimental/Grindcore and I hear both those genres combined in this song. Now the only real problem I have with this song is that at one part, they use autotune for the clean vocals. Given that this song was recorded in 2010 when just about almost everyone was using it I can see why they went with it. When it actually comes to Core music in general, clean vocals are probably the thing I care least about, but their autotune vocals aren't the worse I've heard either. 

Another thing criticize are the lyrics and at first hearing I can see why people say that they don't make sense, but take the time to think about them and they are actually very clear. For example the lyrics "I taste the salt drip onto my lips missing the touch of your fingertips"is basically saying he misses his lover and that he's crying over her, and I'm sure we've all had our tears touch our lips and tasted how salty they can be. 

Since the backlash of Surrounded by Silence, the like/dislikes cannot be viewed on the video and the comment section has also been disabled. Design The Skyline has since stated that this song was a Demo and that most musicians 1st demos aren't that great (on their website, the video isn't even featured on their video selection) so basically they even thought it sucked. I still enjoy the song very much and see that these guys get negativity that they shouldn't get. If Design The Skyline were to tour again, it would be quite the blast to see them live again and perform this song even though I know they wouldn't, so check out this song just to see what you think about it.