TIME SILENT RADIO VII

Echolyn has been one of my favorite bands since their early days, with albums like Echolyn (1991), Suffocating the Bloom (1992), As the World (1995), and Mei (2002). They have a fascinating discography, but after Mei, speaking objectively, the band started to lose what made them interesting. The music became boring, lost its charm, its dissonance, its madness?it became bourgeois in sound, in the best sense of the word.

Then came The End Is Beautiful (2005), which had some flashes of brilliance, and their self-titled album in 2012, which starts off devastatingly strong but then fades away, returning to the same patterns without truly transcending.

At the end of 2024, I received an email informing me that Echolyn would be releasing two albums in March of this year: Time Silent Radio II and Time Silent Radio VII. This news sparked a lot of anticipation. To make the release more appealing, the band offered several options, including "green purchases" with downloads, special prices, and limited editions. Finally, the release arrived. I think Echolyn made two records?one more progressive and the other more commercially oriented.

Echolyn's earlier work had a youthful energy and a more immediate impact, while their recent material leans heavily into introspection and intricate composition. Some might find that this shift has made their music less urgent or engaging.

It's not necessarily a case of declining musicianship?their technical skills and songwriting depth are still there?but the spark that made their earlier albums feel fresh and adventurous might not hit the same way anymore. If you feel they've aged badly, it could be because their approach now feels too careful or lacks the raw emotion and drive they once had.

In the end, this record feels inferior. If you look at it or listen to it, you have to like or dislike something immediately. But Echolyn is still a very original band, and this is a more mature album?one that reflects a time when people listened to the radio and didn't have social media. It's a slow album, but if you give it time, it will eventually pull you in.

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