156/Silence creates soundtracks for the pushed aside and marginalized. Equal parts frenetic, unhinged, passionate, and focused, their music resonates with outsiders of all stripes. 156/Silence is for anyone determined to peel back the façade of false pleasantries, shallow platitudes, and fakery. It’s a mission the band began in earnest with underground missives. (Metal Injection advised readers to “wreck your speakers with 156/Silence” on the eve of 2017’s Karma EP.) The group excels live, offering both community and devastation, while touring with the likes of The Acacia Strain, Unearth, Upon A Burning Body, D.R.U.G.S., Signs Of The Swarm, and Orthodox, among others. Howling personal declarations, jagged riffs, post-hardcore, noise, thrash, sludge, and ambiance collide within 156/Silence. In 2018, Kerrang! hailed the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania group as one of the 6 Underground Metalcore Bands Redefining the Scene. Less than a decade after their emergence, 156/Silence delivers again on that promise with an incendiary fourth album, People Watching. No two 156/Silence albums are alike, from the unhinged frenetic chaos of Undercover Scumbag (2018) to the gloriously savage and technical Irrational Pull (2020), which Metal Hammer likened to Converge and Botch. The diverse ruminations found in Narrative (2022) took things even further. People Watching continues the prolific outfit’s tradition of steadfast evolution. Produced by Jonathan Dolese (D.R.U.G.S., Emmure, Attack Attack!), the album embraces melodic hooks without sacrificing any heaviness. The band’s golden age of metalcore roots shimmer and swirl together with influences ranging from Aphex Twin to Thrice, Glassjaw, and Deftones, from movie soundtracks to horror games. As the band says: “People Watching is truly the culmination of the last nine years of 156.” 156/Silence sounds ravenous, ominous, and haunting. Their songs are literary and cinematic, cerebral and brutal, drawing from real and imagined horrors, all intertwined with melody and might.
