Have I ever told you, dear reader, that I love finding out about the background of a song? There have been times that I’ve had the opportunity to see behind the curtain and glimpse the meaning from the artist, and it changes the entire outlook of the song or album. With that said, I had this whole article about DEAD X SINN written some time ago… but it’s midnight and two nights before the article is due out (Happy Halloween by the way) and I just got off a podcast with one of the creators of this song…. So of course I decided to completely change the review. No, not because I’m a basket case but because of the true meanings that come with this. Death and I talked tonight about love and loss, and I now can’t allow this to be just an article about killer vocals and insane music. It’s far more than that.
Fragmented Memories began in 2012 with what I consider an odd style of writing that mixes in such a natural way. Two friends, one coming from a dark place, collaborating by each writing a single line at a time after the other has written his. It lay dormant until they reconnected over a mutual friend’s passing and finally brought the piece to fulfillment. As a long standing fan of Silhouette Death, the style does take a different path than other music I hear from him. Harsher vocals, the beats are harder hitting, there’s a black metal feeling to this and the ‘haunting’ that’s usually hidden within Death’s musical design isn’t present. Mind you , that doesn’t mean this track isn’t killer. It’s just sometimes a little shocking how varied his music can be… especially when I looked up Jason Neil! Yes, that’s an exclamation point. Yes, you’ll understand if you listen to the tracks on Spotify and follow Jason’s link in the song. Somehow Mr. Rogers meets Deathcore wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card. Just, listen to the track they did, then listen to this. You’ll get it.
Now the part of the article I decided to edit. The second song is “Withering Affliction” and this was also written during a very dark period in life. I’d like you to see the quote though.
“The second song “Withering Affliction” is based off a price of writing that was also done about 5 years ago also during a dark period of my life after Ashley passed away. It had to deal with the intentions of everyone around you even though it seemed like everyone wanted to help in some way or another, it never felt genuine so you turned it inward and questioned yourself in all your relationships whether it be friendship or genuine connection with someone. It was a constant darkness of almost self sabotage. There was no one else I would’ve done these tracks with except the person that had experienced who I was and what I was becoming yet still stuck with me through the darkness I was experiencing, 24 years of friendship and the meeting through mutual friends and music. The one friend who took me out of a practice space garage and mentored me to becoming a growler / screamer. What better person to do these two heavy as fuck tracks with then Jason “SINN” Neil a mentor, a brother, and before anyone a friend that has stood the test of 24 years.” – (Silhouette Death)
I wasn’t going to out him like that, making him all sweet and human and all, but after talking with him for an hour about mental health and the death of our loved ones, I felt like you should know that even behind beat driven insanity and metal vocals, there’s often a story that’s rather heart rendering. This wasn’t just two people tagging each other to say hey, we did a thing. These are songs from the heart, from the darkness and with a sort of “Fuck You” message, because sometimes, just sometimes, that’s how we let out the misery.
Check them out yourself on this Halloween night – or, you know, whatever night you read this – through the links for Silhouette Death or, right here through the Spotify Embed: