Silent Planet's Apocalyptic Metal Hits New Depths on 'Panopticon'

Silent Planet are as fierce as ever on "Panopticon," a challenging new song the California metalcore act dropped on Friday (Aug. 20), their first for 2021.

Fans of the band will find familiarity in the tune's crushing riffs and piercing vocals. Not to mention the track's probing poetics, a Silent Planet hallmark. The "Panopticon" lyrics draw from the all-consuming role of technology in modern life — as if to challenge the idea, Silent Planet recorded "Panopticon" in an unusual way.

Listen to the song and read its lyrics down toward the bottom of this post.

Silent Planet vocalist Garrett Russell explained, "'Panopticon' paints a dystopian view of the future — one where technological advances have pacified the human spirit and made us apathetic in the face of an increasingly malevolent, post-singularity AI [artificial intelligence] that was developed under the premise of security… ultimately becoming a tyrannical overlord."

He added, "To communicate the story of humanity and its traditions being outmoded, we challenged ourselves to write a song with no guitar. Using only bass, electronic elements, and percussion, we developed this track over the course of the summer."

Silent Planet plan to perform concerts across the United States next month when their tour with Motionless in White, Light the Torch and Dying Wish is scheduled to kick off in Sauget, Ill., on Sept. 7. It's the bands' first major trek since the pandemic shut down touring.

NEW MUSIC PLAYLIST: Keep up with each week's new songs by following Loudwire's "Weekly Wire" Spotify playlist, featuring 50 tracks with updates each Friday.

Silent Planet, "Panopticon"

Silent Planet, "Panopticon" Lyrics

Panopticon.
Analog heart flat-lined and digitizedA shell for a skull and a body to commodify. Under the light we survive inside this between. But we lose ourselves and retreat to screens.
'Our name is legion. We outnumber the stars. We have come to absolve you.'
They see all but we see one.
Shut down the system. Burn away the veil. What waits? A face behind a face behind a face.
Reverse the network. Burn away the veil. And you'll find a face behind a face behind a face.
All the lies — we're pulling cables from our spines.
The culture is charged, amplified, then polarized. But our nerves are dulled and our souls lobotomized. We sleep with pixels in a dream machine but we lose ourselves and retreat to screens.
Shut down the system. Burn away the veil. What waits? A face behind a face behind a face.
Reverse the network. Burn away the veil. And you'll find a face behind a face behind a face.
Unto us a program is born: Holy Virus, Taker of the Earth.

Motionless in White, Light the Torch, Silent Planet + Dying Wish Summer 2021 U.S. Tour Dates

Sept. 7 – Sauget, Ill. @ Pop's
Sept. 8 – Louisville, Ky. @ Mercury Ballroom
Sept. 10 – Danville, Va. @ Blue Ridge Rock Fest
Sept. 11 – Sayreville, N.J. @ Starland Ballroom
Sept. 14 – Wilmington, Del. @ The Queen
Sept. 15 – Syracuse, N.Y. @ Westcott Theater
Sept. 17 – Grand Rapids, Mich. @ Intersection
Sept. 18 – Ft. Wayne, Ind. @ Piere's
Sept. 19 – Joliet, Ill. @ The Forge
Sept. 21 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Cannery Ballroom
Sept. 22 – Charlotte, N.C. @ Underground
Sept. 25 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Masquerade