VIOLENT SILENCE

What is immediately striking about Violent Silence's 'Kinetic', and fairly unique for music in this genre, is the total absence of guitars. Not only are there no guitars whatsoever on the album, the Swedes have two keyboard players alongside the usual bass, drums and, of course, vocals. What is perhaps more astonishing is that a couple of minutes into the album and the guitar lack is not given a second thought as 'Kinetic' draws you in with its alluring musical charms and absorbingly progressive finesse. Ranging from the down tempo tranquillity of the entrancing 'Sky Burial' to the frantically engaging sounds of the more up tempo 'Torrential Rains', the keyboards of Hannes Ljunghall and Björn Westén are the prominent musical force during particular passages, though form only a constituent part of the whole. The bass has a fully resonant sound which perhaps partly compensates for the guitar absence and adds depth to each of the songs, while Johan Hedman's drumming impresses with his progressive beats providing a solid backbone to the incessantly changing time signatures. Bruno Edling's vocals instill a degree of 'normality' into the songs with his fairly traditional prog-rock singing and he generally has an appealingly versatile voice that fits both the euphonic and more cacophonic music. 'Kinetic' is also testament to the fact that a band doesn't need to, and shouldn't always, rely on distorted guitar to be 'heavy' as Violent Silence achieve genuine 'heaviness' through the contrasting polarity of mellow/heavy (and everything in between) throughout the album. Loaded with polyrhythmic song structures and melodically original compositions, the talented Swedes have managed to record a genuinely progressive album. 'Kinetic' is highly recommended for anyone wishing to hear something different in the progressive genre that is all too often self-imitable and only progressive in a generic sense. 'Kinetic' will not be to everyone's taste, but is refreshingly original and surprisingly accessible. In short, a work of indisputable musical brilliance.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Progress Records

Album

KINETIC

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

50:21

RELEASE DATE:

25th Nov 2005

TRACK LISTING

1) Morning Star
2) Kinetic
3) Torrential Rains
4) Night Lights
5) Sky Burial
6) Subzero
7) Quiet Stalker
8) Homesick

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"...'Kinetic' draws you in with its alluring musical charms and absorbingly progressive finesse."