Sweden's
Blindside were on the front line of the wave of emocore that
swept the music industry at the turn of the century. After
two abrasive full-length albums had gained them an underground
following, Blindside capitalized on the success of emotion-filled
post hardcore and the polished Silence made its way into the
mainstream in 2002.
Coming
up with a follow up for a successful album is hard on any
band, and Blindside certainly did their best with About A
Burning Fire. While not as remarkable as their previous releases,
the new disc continues down the same path set forth by Silence
(the band that released A Thought Crushed My Mind is gone).
Chock full of hectic passion-filled screams interspaced with
softer, reflective singing, About A Burning Fire shows how
deeply the Deftones influenced modern music.
Blindside
managed to keep the same balance of aggression and melody
that they had on Silence, but the new release just doesn't
have the same memorable hooks or tracks. Songs often blend
into one another without distinguishing themselves in any
particular manner. A few songs do stand out, for better and
worse. The better are "Die Buying", "Roads" and "Where the
Sun Never Dies" - tracks that capture the emotions Blindside
captured so well on Silence. The worse is "Hooray, It's L.A.",
a disjointed rock track that doesn't quite fit in the flow
of the album featuring The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan
(who will always be known as that guy from The Smashing Pumpkins).
What
it all comes down to is that About A Burning Fire is an above-par
album for the emocore genre but a let down after Blindside's
previous success.
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