The latest hope on the Hopeless tree of melodic punkrockmetalcoreemo is called Break The Silence. With guitarist/veteran Dan Precision (88 Fingers Louie and Rise Against) at the helm Break The Silence offer a blend of punkrock melodic hardcore with a metal twist. A lot more punkrock than label mates Avenged Sevenfold for instance. If it wasn’t for singer Dan’s screams and rants this would be uptempo punkrock in the vein of Pennywise, Strung Out and consorts.

Now basically Near Life Experience means quality all the way. The clean vocal harmonies, the strategic screams and breaks, the pumping melodic riffs (punkrock style and not Swedish melodic death metal style), it’s all there.

All the more remarkable therefor is the At The Gates cover (“Slaugther Of The Soul”), the only real metal track on the album.

Will it bring Break The Silence success? I have some doubts. Near Life Experience shimmers but hardly shines. Besides: It’s quite crowded in this corner of the punkrockmetalcoreemo scene today. With bands like A7X, Atreyu and Thrice leading the pack, Break The Silence can only hope for some slipstream success.