Formed in 2009, the band – founding members Alex Ballew (drums) and Jesse Cash (guitar/clean vocals),J.T. Cavey (lead vocals), Conor Hesse (bass) and Clint Tustin (guitar) – have always contrasted violent aggression with soothing contemplation within their music. That year’s self-released, self-titled debut EP established ERRA as being at the cutting edge of the progressive metal scene, something that’s only increased with time.
Their newest album silence outlives the earth is the clearest example of the band’s musical and thematic acuity to date. From the moment it kicks off with “stelliform“, it’s an album that exists in a liminal space of its own creation and that, inspired by both personal circumstances and the state of the world at large, explores what it means to be between.
The existential, contemplative nature of these songs is matched by the mystical, ethereal disposition of their quieter moments – moments that reflect that self-reflection – but there’s plenty of crushing catharsis, too. That’s long been the way for ERRA, but they pull it off with exceptional skill here. Recorded, engineered and produced by Daniel Braunstein – with whom the band also made their previous three albums – the extremes at the center of their songs have never felt more extreme, yet have also never sounded more cohesive, more connected.
That precision has helped create an immersive narrative that lasts for the duration of the record. While the stories it’s telling are certainly personal, it also gathers inspiration from further afield – often by books that Cash has read or words he sees, reads or hears. The two combine to devastating effect throughout this record, but perhaps most poignantly on “black cloud”. It’s a song that perfectly demonstrates the singer’s approach to lyrics.
“When I wrote that song,” Cash says, “I was thinking about the day my dad died, but I wasn’t writing about my dad dying, if that makes sense. It would be inaccurate to say that that song was written about my dad. It’s not, but that is the feeling that I was anchoring to while writing it.”
So while the experience that inspired it is very personal, and the feeling within the song very real, it’s also been written with the express idea that the listener can create their own narrative for them, allowing them to apply these songs to what’s going on in their own lives. Partially, that was by design, but it’s also something that just took root through the way these songs were written.
As such, silence outlives the earth is an incredibly pure response to both the state of the world and the effect that that’s having on humanity. It also confidently continues the evolution of the band, a dreamy yet powerful soundscape that moves forward while also drawing from the past. In some ways, then, like life, this album is in a perpetual state of flux, caught between the past and present, between one thing ending and another one beginning. As such, it’s a very human album, and very much representative of who ERRA are – and always have been.
