Exclusive Premiere: Metal Band Silver Tears Return with New Single ‘Miseries’
The Guwahati-origin sextet, now based in Mumbai, talk about making a slow but committed comeback, releasing their first song since 2011’s ‘Ensnared’ EP
Guwahati/Mumbai metal band Silver Tears. Art: Samiran Borgohain/instagram.com/sameucliff
As a band that has played about one gig per year (and sometimes, even less), prog/heavy metal act Silver Tears have clearly been spending time away to “get settled,” as synth player Raktim Mahanta tells us.
Originated in Guwahati and now based in Mumbai, the band did have to part ways with powerhouse vocalist Girish Pradhan in 2018 (owing to the singer’s commitments with his rock/metal band, Girish and the Chronicles) but found a new frontman in Bibhash Buragohain. As much as Pradhan was a “very important cog in the Silver Tears machine,” Raktim says it wasn’t too tough to find a replacement. “Call us lucky but it was not actually a very long process. Bibhash was right there chilling with us in Malad,” he adds with a laugh.
They dove back into their catalog to work on “Miseries,” a song that was written in 2013 and has now been produced in-house by guitarist Ishan Das, mixed by Akash Sawant (the go-to engineer for metallers Zygnema) and mastered by Ermin Hamidovic in Australia (credits include prog and metal bands such as Architects, Animals As Leaders and Devin Townsend). The song is also the first to feature another new addition to the band, guitarist Manasquam Mahanta, who replaced Brittanta Das Mahanta in 2018.
While “Miseries” still contains some imprints of Pradhan and Brittanta, it’s been polished to play up modern prog elements as well as clockwork rhythmic dexterity from drummer Nawaz Hussain and bassist Biswajit Chakraborty. It talks about fighting against a storm and a “never ending battle,” but emphasizes that “love is the truth.”
There are two more releases that will follow “Miseries” – and rightly so, considering it’s their first official studio material since 2011’s EP Ensnared – so Silver Tears are here to stay. Raktim says that although they’ve all given time to commercial music projects, they’re better equipped to balance things out now. He adds, “Most importantly, we have started thinking about things from not just a musician’s but a producer’s perspective too […] COVID-19 has made things a little uncertain. Rest assured, when things return to normalcy, you will see us more active than ever.”
Stream “Miseries” below.
