After hearing their 2008 comeback album ‘Four Letter Word’, Silent Rage should seriously seek shelter because without question, this album goes sadly to the bottom of their catalogue.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Silent Rage
ALBUM: Four Letter Word
LABEL: Frontiers
SERIAL: FRCD 378
YEAR: 2008
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jesse Damon – guitar, vocals * Mark Hawkins – guitar, vocals * EJ Curse – bass, vocals * Rodney Pino – drums, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 You Could Be The One * 02 Four Letter Word * 03 Man Or Machine * 04 Feel My Love * 05 Close Your Eyes * 06 Sinister Man * 07 Hard Habit To Break * 08 Nobody Knows (Ballad Of Andy And Glory) * 09 Bona Fide * 10 I Am Not Lonely * 11 Trouble
RATING: 30/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Silent Rage Background
Silent Rage safely have a port in a storm on this website should they ever need one. I’ve been a fan of theirs right from the early daze, our reviews cover all their albums. After hearing their 2008 comeback album ‘Four Letter Word’, Silent Rage should seriously seek shelter. Because without question, this album goes sadly to the bottom of their catalogue.
I can guess that the sound on the album reflects current times, current personnel associations etc etc. But the music I’m afraid is (to coin a well phrased Antipodean saying) ‘as rough as guts’, and it hurts me to say so, because I love this band.
Just quite how the production values for ‘Four Letter Word’ went to the outhouse rather than the penthouse beggars belief. If Gilby Clarke thinks that being a producer is the way to his future, then he’s got another thing comin’. None of the trademark qualities that messrs Damon, Hawkins and Curse have made available on previous albums is visible here.
Silent Rage provide no focus on melody, the sound is coarse, harsh, the musical equivalent of sandpaper. Whereas in the past, this band were wrapped safely in velvet.
The Songs
Opening up with ‘You Could Be The One’, it’s hard to know what to make of this one. The fast (what sounds like) handclaps on the verses sound out of place. If Jesse is singing, he sounds nothing to what we know he can deliver. The chorus is OK, but with better production this could’ve been so much better.
The narrative/voice over accompanying the title track ‘Four Letter Word’ adds a bit of contrast. The song itself is a hair metal anthem, albeit a very bad one. The band dip into Metal Church and Vicious Rumors territory with the hard as nails ‘Man Or Machine’. Industrial sounding with bucket sounding drums. Not bad, but not great either.
Probably the worst Silent Rage effort here is ‘Feel My Love’. Who decided to chuck in the dinky piano lines through the verse? Plus, the quirky chorus which has its origins in the power-pop world sounds out of place here. I’m certainly not feeling the love here boys.
‘Close Your Eyes’ goes down a Tattoo Rodeo meets Bon Jovi path. But the less than stellar production should have given the guitars more ambience, the layered keys a bit more depth. An unremarkable solo section doesn’t help matters. Twenty years prior and it may have been a different story.
‘Sinister Man’ tries to knick a Metallica riff, but it doesn’t quite come off. Nope, ‘Hard Habit To Break’ is not a Chicago cover. Instead it’s a not too convincing performance with an ill-advised sax solo playing right through the middle of the song. Oh no.
Finally we get a decent song to sink our chops into. ‘Nobody Knows (Ballad Of Andy And Glory)’. It’s not a ballad actually, but a hard rocking track that reminds us of what this band are truly capable of. ‘Bona Fide’ rocks the joint too, but in reality, in terms of Silent Rage’s total output over twenty one years, this would be considered filler.
‘I Am Not Lonely’ operates at half pace, but the production is so rough, oh boy, how did this get on the album? As if in defiance, the band rip into the closer ‘Trouble’, this is pretty good actually, fast tempo and an attitude to boot, but the pre chrous and chorus are a mess. The multi-part vocals seems out of sync too, adding to the confusion.
In Summary
It’s very hard to pinpoint the blame for this downturn in quality. Should we throw the sink at Gilby Clarke for his ruinous attempt at converting these boys into something they aren’t? Should I stick the needle into Silent Rage for going along with it? Or should Frontiers the label be given a blast for allowing such an album to ever get to the release stage?
What happened to the attitude of ‘we reserve the right to hold back this album because it is so poor..’ Or do the guys at Frontiers not have a quality control department? I was waiting for the first poor album for 2008 from Frontiers, and unfortunately this it. Such a shame as Silent Rage have released quality material previously.
Silent Rage on Video
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