{"id":307,"date":"2026-09-04T14:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T13:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2026-09-04T14:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T13:14:21","slug":"156-silence-from-a-distance-review-bigger-bolder-and-unafraid-to-break-the-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigmouthrocknews.com\/?p=307","title":{"rendered":"156\/Silence \u2013 From A Distance Review: Bigger, Bolder and Unafraid to Break the Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is a point in our conversation with 156\/Silence vocalist Jack Murray where I tell him that From A Distance<\/em> simply feels bigger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not necessarily heavier. Not necessarily more aggressive. Bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More cinematic, more atmospheric, more polished and far more willing to stretch beyond the boundaries of what you might traditionally expect from a 156\/Silence record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we were going for, for sure,\u201d Murray tells Bigmouth Rock News, crediting producer Josh Schroeder in particular with helping add to the album\u2019s atmosphere and creating something closer to a \u201ccinematic visual experience\u201d than simply another relentlessly heavy record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That exchange probably sums up From A Distance<\/em> better than anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because 156\/Silence haven\u2019t sacrificed the chaos that made them such an exciting proposition in the first place. Instead, they\u2019ve built around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The follow-up to 2024\u2019s People Watching<\/em> feels like a band realising that heaviness becomes considerably more effective when you aren\u2019t afraid to contrast it with something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are crushing sections here, certainly, but they\u2019re surrounded by electronics, huge hooks, unsettling ambience, melody and moments that feel deliberately uncomfortable. Rather than constantly attempting to bludgeon the listener, From A Distance<\/em> knows when to pull you closer before swinging again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Murray has clearly placed far greater emphasis on making these songs stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Bigmouth, he admits that he can be extremely self-critical when writing, but says that this time he deliberately focused on creating more structured choruses with one very straightforward objective: write something catchy enough that it gets stuck in your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That increased accessibility doesn\u2019t mean 156\/Silence suddenly sound safe. If anything, From A Distance<\/em> is interesting because the band seem increasingly uninterested in deciding exactly what they\u2019re supposed to sound like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metalcore remains somewhere within their DNA, but it\u2019s no longer a boundary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a distinctly unsettling quality running through the record, and its influences extend well beyond music. Resident Evil<\/em>, Silent Hill<\/em>, Twin Peaks<\/em>, Severance<\/em> and A24 films all entered our conversation when discussing the world surrounding From A Distance<\/em>. Murray describes the band\u2019s visual approach as chasing a \u201cwacky spooky vibe\u201d and wanting to leave people with the same feeling certain films can produce: wondering what the hell they just experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That mentality bleeds naturally into the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From A Distance<\/em> is positioned as a thematic companion to People Watching<\/em>, but the clue is quite literally in the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople watching from a distance,\u201d Murray explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where its predecessor observed the tension immediately surrounding the band, this record takes several steps backwards and looks at the stranger aspects of modern life from a wider perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n