Silver Dust isn’t just an ordinary metal band. The Swiss quartet has been around since 2013 and launches Symphony Of Chaos as their a fifth album. They are not very well-known in our area, despite touring with big names like Lordi, Moonspell or Rotting Christ (and these are not similar bands, however). Maybe because, in my opinion, there is no middle ground: you either love their music and image, or you hate it.
As for that image, the theatricality plays a big part. Frontman and singer/guitarist Lord Campbell (an ex-hockey pro, by the way) acts like a stately boogeyman with a tube hat, and drummer Mr Killjoy also does like to indulge in the requisite buffoonery. Mr Killjoy, by the way, has been back on the road since January this year. Of course, none of this is new: masked theatrical (shock) rockers have been found in all subgenres of rock and metal for the past 50 years: ranging from rather mainstream rockers like Kiss and Ghost over mime-adepts like Alex Harvey and mister shock rock Alice Cooper himself to Marilyn Manson and the creepy characters of Lordi and Gwar and other terrifiers like Mayhem, Slipknot, Avatar, Marduk, Behemoth or King Diamond. You would almost wonder if there are any bands left that can do without mascara.
Do they carry this through to the rest of the album? In part, yes. That menacing and creepy atmosphere, those choir voices, some orchestration, grunts, keyboards, an occasional techno drum and even genuine death metal, metalcore and industrial elements pervade, like in the title track. But the musical level also remains high! Which means you can at least speak of something original, special and varied here, although probably not accessible to everyone. But for me, this is even better than their previous album Lullabies, which I also reviewed here.
Meanwhile, Silver Dust has signed with record label M&O Music. They do not yet provide Zware Metalen with albums for review, but they were immediately willing to provide me with the music in high quality so that a review would be possible. Great job!
This is an album you can’t imagine much about just by writing about it. You really have to hear it. Starting point: bands like Ghost, Rammstein, System Of A Down, Machine Head and Sepultura (the intro of the instrumental Down will certainly remind you of Cavalera’s work) are put through the blender and overlaid with Lord Campbell’s sinister yet sometimes melancholic voice. A mishmash that leads to mostly midtempo songs with peaks towards complete rage or a sensitive ballad. Goodbye is the only resting point on this album. A ballad like the ones you hear at the Eurovision Song Contest, with lots of piano in the beginning but growing into an epic with elaborate arrangements.
No Matter How Far Away is a bit along the lines of Salve Regina. Evolving from slow and melodic to the aforementioned complete frenzy. Here, too, one of those creepy circus songs is present again, just like in the closing French bonus track Le Squelette Crâneur in which, after a very soft beginning, everything is pulled out once more to leave you dazed: what did I hear and endure here those past twelve songs.
Definitely worth mentioning as a big plus: the sound and production! Despite the multitude of elements, every instrument comes out of your speakers flawlessly and rock hard. Heavily thumping drums, thundering downtuned riffs, Lord Campbell’s grave voice, the grunts, the synths: everything just in the appropriate amount: nothing overpowering, nothing mixed too much into the background. No idea how they can match this live. At the very least, there will have to be a synthesiser on stage with them, and the necessary orchestration and choir voices brought ‘live on tape’.
Even though I am in se rather a fan of classic rock, NWOBHM, glam rock and traditional metal, with Symphony Of Chaos, Silver Dust holds my attention for twelve songs in a totally different subgenre, making me listen with open mouth, left completely numb afterwards. No run-of-the-mill hard rock, no interminable solos, no simplicity but an album where every detail has been thought through, with a huge wall of sound, with both wild guitars and classical arrangements, with an exciting and menacing atmosphere. I don’t even really miss the lack of guitar solos (there is one in Lucifer’s Maze, one of the best songs too by the way).
This comes in at number one in my 2025 album list and will probably stay there. High time this band takes a bigger place in the metal landscape. Hats off to this album.
Score:
86/100
Label:
M&O Music, 2025
Tracklisting:
- Fire!
- Salve Regina
- I’m Flying
- Symphony of Chaos
- I Saw Your Light
- Down
- Goodbye
- Lucifer’s Maze
- Devil’s Dance
- The Masters of Fright
- No Matter How Far Away
- Le Squelette Crâneur (bonustrack)
Line-up:
- Lord Campbell – Zang, gitaar
- Kurghan – Bas
- Neiros – Gitaar
- Mr Killjoy – Drums
Links: