Johny Santos decided to leave from Spineshank and form Silent Civilian.
From the first tunes of this album you think that you are going to listen another typical Swedish death metal band but as songs go by, the music turns into nu-metal with some parts with clear vocals and guitar solos from Santos.
Although this combination sounds promising the result... is not the best. As you hear "Rebirth of the Temple" you have a constant feeling that I have already hear this, been there, done that...and so on.
The album starts with a realy weak song "Funeral" and continues with the best song of this work, "The Song Remains Unnamed". And then...nothing again. You have to wait until "Force Fed" the second and last good moment of "Rebirth of the Temple".
In general Silent Civilian not only can't differ from the thousands bands out there but they copy themselves also. After a while you can understand the patterns in their songs...and you know what comes next. I hope that the next album will be much better.
Rating: 40/100
From the first tunes of this album you think that you are going to listen another typical Swedish death metal band but as songs go by, the music turns into nu-metal with some parts with clear vocals and guitar solos from Santos.
Although this combination sounds promising the result... is not the best. As you hear "Rebirth of the Temple" you have a constant feeling that I have already hear this, been there, done that...and so on.
The album starts with a realy weak song "Funeral" and continues with the best song of this work, "The Song Remains Unnamed". And then...nothing again. You have to wait until "Force Fed" the second and last good moment of "Rebirth of the Temple".
In general Silent Civilian not only can't differ from the thousands bands out there but they copy themselves also. After a while you can understand the patterns in their songs...and you know what comes next. I hope that the next album will be much better.
Rating: 40/100
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments for this post
o.O This Band is awesom man! they have a much better rating on other sides.
The Guitar-solos are genius and the songs and lyrics are great!
dont talk if you dont know what about you are talking ;)
Lol... you disagree and that's acceptable. But I KNOW that the album is realy weak and predictable and has nothing to offer. If you like nu-metal (i don't) there are better albums out there...
but that is just my ponion
What are you talking about? First of all, this isn't nu-metal, it's metalcore.
Second, simply by musical prowess this album stands head and shoulders above the rest. On top of which, the fact that the lyrics bring something of importance, that he is singing about the problems we face today, that puts them again ahead of the pack. The guitar work on "The Song Remains Unnamed" is a culmination and reflection of the rest of his skills dispersed amongst the other songs. The same could be said of the drumming on "Divided." Further proof of their musical understanding comes in their final song "Live Again."
What's more is that to say that you KNOW that the album is weak is to state your opinion as fact, and doing so diminishes your point.
Silent Civilian play a mix of metalcore/nu-metal. Now lets say (they are not but lets assume) that Silent Civilian are ahead of the pack in their music area... in other words in the kingdom of blind the one-eyed is the king! Check bands like Shadows Fall or Unearth. and you will understand that there is a huge difference in releasing a solid album and releasing an album with 1 good song out of 13. Finaly , if I want to listen about todays probs I'll chose Serj Tankian...
But in the end I'll be happy if you write a full review about this album here... Ppl will get a more opinions, thats why are comments enabled
I also did a little search to see if it is just me that I don't like Silent Civilian. Here are some reviews:
Sputnik Magazine
For all the stuff they got right, Silent Civilian does slip up in a few areas. First and foremost is a problem that has become readily apparent in many metal albums, Repetition. After around track 8, this album starts to feel more than a little formulaic and while there are still some interesting solos and a catchy chorus or two, the last songs after the aforementioned Lies... practically blend together and suffer from a serious case of "been there done that" save the albums fantastic closer Live Again.
Secondly, despite all the praise that it deserves, the music still has many problems that need to be weeded out. The first thing that comes to mind has to do with the fact that some songs simply do not hold up well against others. The song Force Fed is already a cut below the rest of the first-half tracks due to the fact that Santos simply cannot reach the higher notes that he tries valiantly to push out during the chorus. Also, the guitar solos, not only for this song, but also for First Amendment and Falling Down sound forced, rushed, and frankly, a bit wanking.
One last point, and this may just be me, but the main riff for Lies in the House of Shame sounds ridiculously close to the same riff used during the bridge of Lamb of God's own Now You've Got Something to Die For. Despite how good the song sounds, its hard to shake off the feeling that this riff sounds way too familiar.
and here are some comments from KNAC.COM
sswehrmacht - 5/24/2006 7:18:10 AM
The only thing this band has is hype. Overrated. Need a new lyricist. Simple riffs. Reminds me of those High School bands pushing their cd's out of the trunk of an old Buick. Hang it up Santos.
Head_Injury - 5/15/2006 11:49:55 AM
It's goddamn crap is what it is!
keepitmetal13 - 5/12/2006 3:51:13 PM
better than spineshank
I have to strongly attest to the negative remarks regarding this band. For one, the comparisons that they sound like "every other band in there genre" ....Well if you looked back, you will see that Santos has actually been in the game a while and was on the forefront of STARTING that genre. That being said, they all strive to take HIS SOUND. Do we forget how much of an underground influence of Spineshank was, due highly because of Santo's upmost commitment to his music. Also when you take into consideration that even during the recording process they suffered by actually trying to keep this band together. From the original line up, only one person remains static in the band, and thats Santos himself. Chris Mora (drums) was the co-founder and he too has stated in his myspace and in a few interviews with magazines that he has called it quits. This results in ONE person being entirly responsible for keeping everything together. When you consider that alone, its genious musicly. Now most of this albulm can seem a little repetitive, but I think it was a bold move. He's trying to define the sound of Silent Civilian, and on his freshman albulm, he was trying to play it safe. Overall, this has become my favorite "new" band. Also speaking for a personal opinion, I prefer Silent Civilian over shadows fall or any of the other "metalcore" ish bands out there... Also as a classification, I think "metalcore" is inaccurate, his guitar playing sounds more remnicient of older bands like Pantera with the fact he dosn't play the same 3 chords repetivly like the newer bands.. Korn being considerd the founder of "Nu-Metal" has little to no complex guitar solos in the works. "Metalcore" bands do seem to have a little more as far as guitar solos and such, however most of there lyrics are pretty bland, dry and boring imho.
This is my review of it...can't wait for feedback even though ill never check this site again "nothing personal i just wont remember it as im at work! :)"
I think the lot of you need to remember where metal has been going these past few years. In the UK for example, I watched the scene die as countless nu-metal and metalcore bands gave up everything they stood for and decided to start releasing what I would call pop for years and years, until someone decided that it was all a load of shit.
Now, all of a sudden, Spineshank, Limp Bizkit, Korn etc have all had to suddenly raise their game because they realised no one was turning up to their gigs because they were singing about poppy crap that no one cared about and the scene had clearly started to deterriorate and it rapidly became apparent it was not cool to like this type of music.
I am so happy for everyone involved that Santos has sat down and actually thought about his direction, and in my opinion he has made one of the best decisions of his career, asserting himself as a type of Rob Flynn one man band type affair. Again Santos is DICTATING where metal is going just like he did in Spineshank all those years ago.
Here's to metal being back on the rise!
Congratulations to Santos for writing a very.....very good album. Anyone who says this album is poor needs to re-listen to all the tripe that has been released over the past few years!!!!!