Silence the Echo combines beautiful, crushing, and inspirational moments in Liberation.
Back in 2022, Katja and Jani Stefanovic (Miseration, Solution .45) began to put together a project incorporating her vocals with his metal and metalcore ideas. In 2024, it was time for the vision and project to become a band and they enlisted guitarist Teemu Rautiainen (ex-One Morning Left), drummer Nikke Karaksela (Frail, Ocean Dark), and bassist Tommi Huuskonen (Ocean Dark). The single “Into Serenity” was released in December 2024 with “Through the Dark” coming shortly after and both received well. Through 2025, the band added a couple more songs and remixes and released ep’s containing a new song combined with previous released tracks, culminating in Liberation. All music is written and produced by Jani and Katja and they brought in some heavyweights for mixing and mastering with Thomas “Plec” Johansson (Soilwork, Opeth, Periphery) at Panic Room Studio handling the mixing and mastering done by Ted Jensen (Evanescence, Alice in Chains, Eagles) at Sterling Sound.
For me, this was always an interesting project as I’m a fan of Jani Stefanovic’s other work with Miseration and Solution .45 as well as Katja’s and Jani’s previous release I Never Knew (2012), which is an album of praise, prayer, and worship songs with Katja handling the vocals. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the previous singles and ep’s from the band so this ep was my first real experience. “Liberation” as the new song, starts out with typical metalcore bombast and getting to that “wall of sound” overly compressed sound that I’m not a fan and keeps that for the heavier parts of the song but Katja’s vocals come through clear and soft in the quieter verse section and soar above the noise in the bridge/chorus parts. The extreme contrast between the softer sections and heavier ones works really well and in keeping with those involved in production, mixing, and mastering, all the bands they’ve been involved in like Evanescence and Miseration in particular are represented in the sound.
“Burn Deep Within” brings in some symphonic elements into the beginning and has a galloping pace at times as well as some growled and clean male vocals and again serves as a good vehicle to highlight Katja’s vocals amid the heaviness of the guitars and drums. The song itself is a song of worship and praise, “Set my heart ablaze fully die to myself, crucify my flesh…It’s you I follow” and this leads nicely into “Don’t Give Up”, which serves as a prayer “All Seems to fall, my faith withdrawn, I’m fading, I’m losing my hope”. The song starts out with some electronic elements and atmospheric keyboards that set a solemn tone for the early verses contrasting well with the brighter chorus of answered prayer and encouragement emphasized by short burst of pummeling guitars. “Through the Dark” from a topic perspective is similar in that it is essentially a conversation between a believer and God and again relies on the contrast between the quieter moments and the heavy to illustrate the power of the conversation.
“Into Serenity” was the first release from the band and had I really paid attention to it when it came out I would know how the album and ep’s would sound as the formula was set – atmospheric keyboards, electronic elements, quiet verse sections that build into soaring vocals and heavier choruses with metalcore elements and inspirational faith-based lyrics.
The last two tracks on Liberation are edits of “Don’t Give Up” the radio edit is only 18 seconds shorter, so not a whole lot different but interestingly is the one with the most plays on Spotify for some reason. The Jonas Ekdahl and Beemon remix turns it into an EDM-like track. Granted I’m not into EDM, so that could be way off, but it’s what I imagine EDM to be (haha). It’s more like a dance club version if that helps. Still catchy, and definitely a very different remix. Not sure how I feel about it…but I haven’t hit the skip button everytime it comes up if that says anything.
Given the musical background of Jani Stefanovic with Miseration and Solution .45 and Katja’s beautiful vocals on previous albums, Liberation is almost what I would have expected as a blend of the two. From the metal standpoint, Jani shows a good bit of restraint but the band assembled brings the metalcore elements that work well with Katja’s vocals and give her the chance to show their strength in the heavier sections of the songs. The faith-based lyrics stand out and the contrasting sound elements work well to highlight the musicianship involved making this a solid collection of songs.
Rating: 9/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
1. Liberation
2. Burn Deep Within
3. Don’t Give Up
4. Through the Dark
5. Into Serenity
6. Don’t Give Up (Radio Edit)
7. Don’t Give Up (Jonas Ekdahl and Beemon Remix)
Release Date: 12 September 2025
Record Label: Sandwool Records
Band Members
Katja Stefanovic – vocals
Jani Stefanovic – guitars
Teemu Rautiainen – guitars
Nikke Karaksela – drums
Tommi Huuskonen – bass
Video for “Don’t Give Up”:
Video for “Burn Deep Within”:
Video for “Through the Dark”:
Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silencetheechoofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silence_the_echo_official
Band site: https://silencetheecho.com/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@silence.the.echo