Carved Into The Sun – Silent Tower

“Carved Into The Sun evolves with contemplative brilliance, mastering patient restraint and dense atmosphere on Silent Tower“

I first discovered Carved Into The Sun during the pandemic when Eric Reifinger reached out and asked me to give his debut self-titled EP a listen. It was exactly what I needed during those strange, isolated days. What started as a few emails back and forth grew into a genuine friendship, which eventually led us to collaborate on some fun projects together: a Spotify playlist, the WPRD Discord channel, and even a 24/7 radio livestream on YouTube.

So yeah, I’m biased. I’ll admit that upfront. But honestly, I’ve never written a completely objective review, and I’m not sure anyone really can. I’m just going to share what I think and feel about this album, and you can decide for yourself if my take resonates with you.

When The Earth Fell Away dropped in 2022, it absolutely floored me. It quickly became my favorite post-rock release of that year, maybe even beyond. The way Eric channeled loss and grief into the album was stunning. It was raw and beautiful and devastating all at once, the kind of album that stays with you long after it ends.

So when I heard Silent Tower was coming, I had questions. How do you follow up something that resonated that deeply? Where do you even go from there? Eric’s answer surprised me (in the best way). Instead of trying to recreate that emotional intensity, he built upon it. Silent Tower takes the emotional gravitas of The Earth Fell Away and channels it into something more atmospheric, more somber. It’s a natural evolution that understands the power of restraint. 

The album begins with ‘Catastrophist’, which serves a function similar to The Earth Fell Away’s opening salvo. It leads with foreboding atmospherics centered around a haunting cello line, patient and deliberate. The song builds without ever actually accelerating, it just gets heavier, more layered, more all-encompassing. The track swells with melodious weight, never rushing toward a climax but earning every moment of tension. It’s a towering tone-setter that immediately establishes this album’s intent.

Carved Into The Sun’s brought in some collaborators this time around. Artem Molodtsov and C.E. Brown join him, and Gabriel Reifinger adds keyboards that give the album an expanded sonic palette. You really hear it on At The Mountains Mercy, where the interplay between instruments draws the listener in completely. The bass takes on this dark, almost ominous presence while the keys drift above everything, creating lush, atmospheric textures. It’s over ten minutes long, but every passage feels intentional.

The closing track, What Deepest Remains, stretches out to nearly twelve minutes and in typical Post-Rock fashion, maintains dramatic tension throughout. When that final crescendo hits around the nine-minute mark, it’s everything you hoped it would be. Layers upon layers coalescing into this moment that feels both immense and inevitable. It boasts some genuinely heavy riffing in its closing minutes, serving as a reminder of why Carved Into The Sun have become so well-regarded in the scene.

Here’s the thing about Silent Tower: it’s not going to seize you by the throat the way The Earth Fell Away did. It doesn’t want to. This is an album that asks you to inhabit it, to give it your undivided attention. Some might find it too restrained, too measured. The extremely high bar set by The Earth Fell Away may be causing my praise to intensify somewhat, which comes with the territory when you’re following an artist who has proven capable of producing that kind of material. But Silent Tower represents a maturation rather than a regression. It’s an artist confident enough to let the music breathe, to trust that the quieter moments can carry just as much weight as the cacophonous ones.

Ultimately, Silent Tower solidifies Carved Into The Sun’s place among post-rock’s most compelling contemporary voices. It’s certainly worth the investment, and while it may not deliver the same gut-punch immediacy as its predecessor, it offers something equally valuable: depth that reveals itself slowly, a smorgasbord of emotions, and profound rewards that compound with repeated listens.

If my words have swayed you, even a little, I’d advise you to snag that beautiful vinyl right away and thank me later (or not)!

Pre-Order the Vinyl here – https://demistrecords.nl/product/carved-into-the-sun-silent-tower/