Burning Shrine - I Can't Even Hear Your Voice These Days

Burning Shrine

I Can't Even Hear Your Voice These Days
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Burning Shrine is a solo project for a twenty-nine-year-old Austrian named Eric. Sorry I don’t have a last name. He started off playing in a cover band and soon got an itch to play his own music. For whatever reason the songs he wrote weren't working with the band so he decided to release his own album entitled I Can't Even Hear Your Voice These Days.

He writes melancholy, light rock that can fit pretty easily into mainstream music here in the States. It sounds like a combination of rock bands you have heard on the FM station but it is hard to pinpoint any one particular source, which is a good thing. I Can't Even Hear Your Voice These Days is a concept album although you would never guess that if you weren’t told.

The songs are conceptually divided into seasons. There are two songs for each season and a specific theme for each. Spring is about meeting and establishing a friendship; Summer is about love and Fall marks the end of the relationship. Winter tries to deliver depression and Void is a bonus song to finish the album with a bittersweet taste.

The songwriting is good and Eric is a decent vocalist who has some guitar chops. As much as I could appreciate his talent in these areas I also felt he played it pretty safe. The structure of the songs was predictable and there weren’t any surprises along the way. 

The album starts with “June,” which is catchy and delivers some pretty guitar parts. It also does a good job of reinforcing the theme he is trying to convey. The next track “Haven’t Seen You” is a bit more solemn. He sings about separation, which is odd because I thought the theme here was supposed to be establishing a friendship. Anyway the song comes equipped with a solid guitar solo. 

As the album progresses a lot of the songs follow a similar palette of sounds until you reached “Cracked.” The songs get heavier with more distortion ending with the heavy metal inspired “Void” (He even does classic demon voice which I have to admit sounded odd when put against his earlier material). It was clear to me that Eric put a good amount of thought in the sequencing and it shouldn’t go unnoticed,

I Can't Even Hear Your Voice These Days is a solid album with decent songs. Nothing mind blowing but worth a visit to see if it’s your cup of tea. 

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