Saturday 3 September 2011

Final Silence - We Are This For A Reason

Casket Records 2011

1.Jaw Ripper 2.Collapse 3.You Wanna Rape This 4.I'm Just Like You
5.What Have We Done 6.What The Hell Is This Crap Suppose To Be
7.Justice For Once 8.Riding A Redhead 9.Wired At The Heart 10.Self Deliverance
11.I'll Die Fighting 12.Riding A Rehead (re-mix)

Describing their sound as “Heavy Groove Metal”, Final Silence aren’t far off the mark with their description. “Jaw Ripper” is a very melodic affair, certain Pantera influences on display as well and maybe a bit of Killswitch Engage to spice things up slightly. There’s not really an ‘extreme’ edge to the bands sound, the tracks flowing at a ‘nice’ pace, never really daring to be anything more than mid –paced. ‘Collapse’ is another generic affair, variety being injected into the sound by use of varying vocal styles. The main ‘screamed’ vocals being backed up well by some deep guttural vocals, but then the ‘radio friendly’ clean sung vocals are added – obviously a necessity with this style of music ‘cos everyone who plays this style of music has them! ‘You Wanna Rape This’ has a slightly more metalcore feel to it, the obligatory breakdowns used amongst more generic and melodic riffing. It’s all beginning to feel a little safe, the screamed vocals being the only ‘extreme’ edge to the band’s sound. Having said that, the band don’t describe themselves as extreme, so maybe they’re right on the money with what they are trying to achieve.
‘I'm Just Like You’ see’s the tempo being increased slightly, giving the track a more heavy metal feeling, some of the riffs being slightly Swedish melodic death metal in their feel which is a welcome break from the relative safety of the generic and melodic riffs that each song is based around. The musicianship can’t be faulted, these guys are good at what they are doing. However, one question has to be asked of these guys and that is are they as good as the hundreds of other bands doing similar? Maybe, maybe not, it’s really hard to say as they sound like every other band playing this style of music. They have been signed to Casket Music, so someone see’s the selling potential in what they’re doing. The aptly named ‘What The Hell Is This Crap Supposed To Be' is awful, the beginning of the track a bad example of what a rock / groove track should sound like. It just sounds wrong, sounds a long way from being ‘metal’. Thankfully the song improves somewhat, but only in the sense that it returns the melodic and generic structure already so heavily used. Things become even worse on ‘Justice For Once’, the acoustic, American rock anthem / ballard feels well out of place. Definitely a track for the girls (please raise your lighters now and have a hanky ready!). Not sure what the band are trying to achieve with this track, maybe get it heard on the rock radio stations and TV channels, but those who like their metal with balls and some extremity better press fast forward really quickly! The band do show some promise when they up the pace, the double kick drums do get a good work out at times, but as ever, the pace drops in typical metalcore / groove fashion, beatdown-esque riffing used time and time again, the ‘safe option’! I’m not really sure the band should have sent the CD to be reviewed by United Kingdom EXTREME metal, as there isn’t a lot of extremity to their sound, Kerrang will probably love this and lap every track up, the kind of thing Scuzz would also have on their play list. Yes, it’s well played, well produced and the guys all handle their instruments very well, but at the end of the day, it’s not extreme ('Wired At The Heart' has one blast beat in), there’s no danger to their sound, it’s all a bit too nice. There is obviously a market out there for this groove / metalcore influenced music, I’m certain most people reading this blog won’t be in the market for this though. Their bio ends by saying “Peace Dudes” – we don’t want peace, we want all out fucking war!!!!!
5 out of 10

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