Blindside

Item: Silence
Author: Andree Farias

Silence

(2002)

Reviewed by Andree Farias

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Label ElektraThe Rebel Base2002

alternative metal metalcore modern rock post-hardcore

Softies, be warned: This is a hard record.

In a market where Creed hopefuls and nu-metal outfits have reached mind-numbing proportions, it's refreshing to find a group that can hold its own without falling prey to the predictable conventions of made-for-radio rock. Sweden's blindside is one of those groups.

After two mildly successful indie efforts, blindside have finally hit it big with their Elektra/3 Point debut Silence, an incendiary barricade of impassioned vocals, blaring guitars and a furious rhythm section that, ironically, fail to pay homage to the album's title, a quality that in and of itself is very admirable if what you're looking for is driving, no-holds-barred hard music.

As with almost any project of this nature, one is bound to encounter lots of screaming and little singing, a move that usually instills fear in small children and generates complaints from concerned mothers or the uninitiated. On Silence, however, Christian Lindskog has partly forsaken his guttural ways of old and opted for a more melodic route, while still retaining some of his classic vocal stylings. It's a welcome mix that works well and that keeps the vocalization from becoming irritating or distracting from other aspects that are equally important, such as the music or the arrangements. A prime example of this is the vocal transition made from verse to chorus in the first single "Pitiful," where the vocalist aptly switches from singing to hardcore screaming, sometimes resorting to an uncanny --albeit painful-sounding-- combination of both in the same breath. Try that at home, folks.

As far as the instrumentation is concerned, not only do these P.O.D. protégés know how to rock, but also when. Instead of simply dishing out every track with ferocious intensity and never letting go (which they do), they also have a knack for meticulously planning out the structure of their songs, putting as much thought into the overall delivery of their craft as its construction. Tunes like "Sleepwalking," "Time Will Change Your Heart," or "Midnight" showcase their ability to rise above the power-chords-only mantra that some bands live by, keeping things interesting by incorporating drastic and unusual tempo changes (15/4, anyone?), climactic bridges, and epic instrumental interludes that often eclipse the excitement already evoked by a particular song.

Take all of these components, couple them with the band's ability to pen above-average lyrics the -main running theme being human fallibility and man's propensity for losing focus-, and you get Silence, an effort that, despite having already hit the 100,000 sales mark, still hasn't quite caught on with the American buying public. Whether it'll manage to connect with them at all is yet to be determined, since the majority seems to abstain from anything too unfamiliar or fringe-sounding.

Thankfully, we're not the average music fan. If what we're looking for is well-structured songs and something harder for our core, we get it. And Silence fits that bill.

Andree's Score: 3.5/5