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Review: Jack Foley
FOLLOWING hot on the heels of Metallica's St
Anger, comes another returning metal act, in the form of the
UK's One Minute Silence.
Although, OMS are categorised more in the nu-metal bracket, they
actually owe a lot more in style to the Rage Against The Machine
school of song composition, sounding like a UK counterpart to
Audioslave.
Hence, we have lots of pent-up rage, guitar thrashing, and heavy
drum rolls which, taken as a whole, sound pretty much the same.
Lyrics such as 'I have a head full of knowledge, never went to
school, a life time of promise, in the pity pool', on the opening
track, Fistful of Nothing, are pretty much the norm; as
are angrier rages against society, for the former single, I
Wear My Skin - which drops lines such as 'I wage my war in
the name of the living, or is it the killing you choose'.
Fans, no doubt, will lap it up, revelling in the fire of old
(they have been away for two years), but this won't bring them
any new listeners and wasn't able to convert me to the OMS cause
- even though it boasts some sparkling production values, courtesy
of John Leckie and John Cornfield, who have worked with Stone
Roses/Radiohead and Supergrass respectively.
The album, ironically, only really comes alive during the quieter
moments, as in slow-builders such as The Way Back, which
refrains from the rage until the gutsy chorus; or The Hill
Is A Hole, which is actually a pretty good, socially aware
love song, which ends with the lyrics, 'I imagine without you,
I'll fade'.
But moments like this are few and far between, with the head-banging
brought to the fore far too often.
The track, We Bounce, perfectly sums up what to expect
- an angry, expletive-filled rant, which begins with the lyrics,
'If I kill, can I not be the president too, If I rape, can I come
sit with you'.
It is moments such as these that I found myself truly wishing
for one minute's silence - literally!
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Track listing:
1. Fistful Of Nothing
2. Revolution
3. I Wear My Skin
4. The Way Back
5. We Bounce
6. You So Much As Move
7. The Price Of The Kings Ticket
8. Into Our Own
9. A Song About
10. The Hill Is A Whole
11. Representing The Poor Man
12. Enhanced elements for Revolution; We Bounce; I Wear My Skin
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