Pittsburgh atmospheric metalcore powerhouse 156/Silence have released their new album From A Distance, out now via Pure Noise Records.
The album is the band’s sixth full length and follows their critically acclaimed 2024 release People Watching. To mark the release, 156/Silence have also dropped the official music video for the album’s title track “From A Distance”, featuring Alex Reade of Make Them Suffer.
Stream From A Distance:
https://purenoiserecs.lnk.to/156stores
The band shared the inspiration behind “From A Distance”, saying:
“Love. Love is the most important thing in the world no matter what. Through all the bad and evil, there will always be more good. Even if it’s from a distance, the love we share is worth more than anything.”
That quote gives the title track a real emotional anchor. 156/Silence have always dealt in tension, atmosphere and unease, but “From A Distance” pushes that feeling into something more openly human. It is heavy, cinematic and full of weight, but at the centre of it is love, connection and the idea that even separation cannot completely erase what matters.
With Alex Reade adding her voice to the track, the song gains another layer of emotional force. For Australian fans, that Make Them Suffer connection also gives this release an extra point of interest, especially with 156/Silence set to head our way in February 2027 supporting thrown.
From A Distance is described as a spiritual sequel to People Watching, but it also feels like another big step forward for a band that has never been interested in standing still.
Produced by Josh Schroeder, known for his work with King 810, Lorna Shore and The Plot In You, the album finds 156/Silence leaning even deeper into mood, atmosphere and emotional impact while still keeping the heaviness front and centre.
156/Silence make intense, foreboding and haunting music. Their sound blends brutality with atmosphere, intellect and melody, pulling from both real and imagined terror while still keeping things deeply personal. Vocalist and lyricist Jack Murray, guitarist and primary songwriter Jimmy Howell, guitarist Ryan Wilkinson, drummer Kyle O’Connell and bassist Mike Ernst have built a formidable unit, shaped through shared passions and losses since the band first formed in Pittsburgh in 2015.
The band’s 2024 album People Watching marked a major moment, with tracks like “Better Written Villain” and “Character Development (Cold Start)” helping push them further forward. From A Distance builds on that momentum but looks at the world from a wider vantage point.
Where previous records often felt like they were documenting tension up close, From A Distance steps back and examines social behaviour, celebrity worship, intrusive thoughts and interpersonal connection with a colder, sharper focus.
That thematic shift is backed by a sound that refuses to stay in one lane.
The album moves through straightforward hard rock moments, synth-heavy experimentation, crushing metalcore, atmosphere and the band’s more chaotic mathcore roots. It also features guest appearances from Mike Hranica of The Devil Wears Prada, Alex Reade of Make Them Suffer and Tony Castrati of Crippling Alcoholism.
Jimmy Howell explains the band’s continuing creative mindset:
“I look toward bands we love that grew with their listeners, like Thrice and Bring Me The Horizon. They have a sound, but they grow and change. Some bands are comfortable repeating the same thing again. I don’t want to do that. I want to make you feel the way you do when you hear one of those important bands, without sounding like them.”
That is a strong statement of intent, and you can hear that approach running through 156/Silence as a band. They are not chasing one fixed version of themselves. They are building, shifting, stretching and refusing to let genre walls decide where they can go next.
Murray describes the title track as “a love song” and “probably the most Twin Peaks inspired song.”
That also makes sense when you look at the wider sonic world around From A Distance. The band namechecks classic game scores like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, while also drawing from the heady concepts of prestige TV like Twin Peaks. A sample from Apple TV’s Severance opens the album, immediately placing the listener somewhere unsettling, cinematic and strange.
Lyrically, From A Distance cuts deeper into the world built on People Watching. “Proxy Idols” takes aim at celebrity worship. “Order & Entropy” looks at trying to maintain focus while everything falls apart. “Swept from Under (Call of the Void)” sees Murray wrestling with intrusive thoughts and the strange, looming negativity that can arrive even when you are not actively feeling bad.
It is dark material, but 156/Silence do not use darkness as decoration. They turn it into something immersive, uneasy and cathartic.
The band have also earned their reputation the hard way, out on the road. Their live force has been built alongside acts including The Devil Wears Prada, Chiodos, Fit For A King, Counterparts, Silent Planet and The Acacia Strain.
Having recently wrapped the It’s Not You, It’s Me tour with Chiodos, 156/Silence will next head out on their From A Distance US headline tour with Aviana, Heavensgate and Fromjoy. The run begins September 9 in Worcester, Massachusetts and closes in the band’s hometown of Pittsburgh on October 3. They will also appear at Louder Than Life on September 20.
From there, the band head to Europe and the UK for the Flowers Tour with The Devil Wears Prada in October, before kicking off 2027 with an Australian tour supporting thrown.
156/Silence Australian Tour Dates Supporting thrown
Wednesday 3 February 2027
Freo Social, Fremantle 18+
Friday 5 February 2027
The Gov, Adelaide Lic AA
Sunday 7 February 2027
Forum, Melbourne 18+
Wednesday 10 February 2027
UC Hub, Canberra 18+
Thursday 11 February 2027
Liberty Hall, Sydney Lic AA
Friday 12 February 2027
King Street Bandroom, Newcastle 18+
Saturday 13 February 2027
The Tivoli, Brisbane 18+
Tickets:
https://www.destroyalllines.com
With From A Distance, 156/Silence continue to prove they are one of the more compelling bands operating in modern heavy music. It is a record built on heaviness, atmosphere, grief, love, obsession, tension and evolution, while still carrying the kind of sonic devastation that has made the band such a force live.
Nothing feels off the table for 156/Silence anymore.
As Howell puts it:
“We could go anywhere now, and that’s the goal. Nothing is ever off the table.”
From A Distance is out now via Pure Noise Records.
FROM A DISTANCE – OUT NOW
https://purenoiserecs.lnk.to/156stores
