Echoes of Silence, acts as a fitting conclusion to the trilogy Abel Tesfaye began back in March of this year. Combining the sunless atmospherics of Balloons and Thursday‘s disillusioned self-consciousness with his considerably improved lyrical prowess and the experience that came with Tesfaye’s much-discussed fraternizing with fellow Toronto native Drake, it’s The Weeknd’s most concentrated effort to date and one that sets the bar inordinately high for that imminent debut album. Kicking off with a huge, clattering rework of Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” Echoes finds Tesfaye quick to align himself with the King of Pop, music’s most unanimously beloved and accessible star. It’s a fairly faithful and straightforward cover that does well to both showcase Tesfaye’s mad pipes and draw parallels between the song’s debauched narrative and the depraved tales of drugs and sex that’ve become The Weeknd’s most immediately recognizable trademark. MORE