Customer Reviews

End of Silence

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This, the fourth studio session for Rollins band (Hot Animal Machine, Lifetime and Hard Volume) is a true turning point, not only for Rollins, but for music as well. This album is so hard and sooo heavy that it hurts, but that is the idea. Rollins gets through the past in a series of cathartic romps that are both lyrically and sonically awesome; a rare occurence. From Low Self Opinion (the song that should have gotten the same attention as "smells like teen spirit"), to Just like you (the most scathing repudiation of a parent ever written) this album is simply perfect. I have called it the single most important event in my life and I stand by that statement. The jams will rock you hard, the lyrics will both frighten and transport you to another level, while also making you reassess your life to date. With such potent lyrics as "see me, put yourself in my place; be me, put my eyes in your face. Maybe then you'll see, why this place terrifies me." and "You and me, pathetic we cling, we think that we're free. Ugly, you and me, you see, you see, the REAL me." it is hard to ignore this album and even harder to reconcile the fact that it IS largely ignored (as of two years ago Rollins still hadn't seen a profit from this one). Pick up The End of Silence today, it will change your life.

Paul M

When I was in high school, I lifted weights in my parents basement for 2 hours every other day. This album was the workout soundtrack for 11th and 12th grade. It's the perfect music to try and punch yourself out to. By the end of the last song, "Just Like You", I would feel spent, rabid. Amazed that Hank still had some left at the end of that relentless 10 minute song. I can't hear any song of this album to this day without feeling that adversarial thrill of those cast-iron afternoons of my youth.

I'm 32 now, still work out seriously with weights, and listen to Hank quite often.

Hank taught me thru this album to be strong, to be self-defined as a person, to be my own person and believe in myself, to stand up and be unafraid. Who else could send a message like that, AND HAVE IT BE COOL?? Hank was like your guidance counselor, telling you to be positive and not to do drugs, but in way that was intense and interesting and made you want to go out and push the envelope with a dangerous mind.

Buy LIFETIME. Buy THE END OF SILENCE. Buy WEIGHT. Buy COME IN AND BURN. Buy GET SOME... Buy NICE. Buy HOT ANIMAL MACHINE. Buy HARD VOLUME.

I hope the rock world doesn't forget what a lightning bolt this album was "back in the day." Released a little after Nirvana's _Nevermind_ and Soundgarden's _Badmotorfinger_, it was just about as much a defining piece of the "grunge" movement as these two classics. It was also Rollins's first money-maker, as it was put out by a major label, giving he and his band the production values that they had always lacked in the indie world.

For these reasons, this puts _The End of Silence_ at a thrilling precipice, the one between Rollins's manic catharsis of his demons and his success to come. In a few words, Rollins's paranoia and rage never sounded as genuine after this. He put out a few decent albums after this (those which have the same nucleus as this version of the band--Sim Cain and Chris Haskett: _Weight_ and _Come in and Burn_), but he never sounded as RAW again. And punk underground values being what they are and were, this is the best-recorded document of the truly wild Rollins.

This is also when his band got absolutely tight, going between intense riff-rockers like "Grip" and mind-melting jams like the incomparably angry and schizoid "Obscene." The band only got better musically from here, as evidenced on the previously-mentioned releases (and the band is the main reason to listen to the latter-day Rollins before he fired his original players). Here, on _The End of Silence_, though, we have the complete emergence of a world-class "rage rock" act, full of monstrous chops and full-tilt out-of-control angst on Rollins's part.

So this was the more or less plain-spoken classic of the beginning of the grunge era. Where Kurdt used Rimbaudian poetic indirection and Chris Cornell & Co. opted for Sabbathy apocalypse, Rollins just came out and screamed about what frustrated him ("I'm so confused/ Can't find the line/ Between what I use and abuse"--"Obscene"). He continues this approach often to this day, but it's hard to believe it any longer. It probably just keeps him in his penthouse for another year to put out an album where he's toeing that line. I can still listen to _The End of Silence_ and believe that he's preaching the angry blues here to save his life. Since the music matches this sentiment from start to finish, it felt revolutionary in '91. Now, well, it's indispensable for those times when you just gotta punch a wall, right up there with _Master of Puppets_ and precious few other heavy albums.

From the first notes of my first hearing of this this disc, I became hooked on Rollins Band. The first three songs just pull you in and build. There's some great playing on this record, and the whole effect is so visceral and genuine, it makes you want to scream along with it. If you like heavy, soulful, powerful music, listen to this disc. It's not for everyone, but this is one of my favorite albums of all time.

This is simply a jaw-drapping, neck-breaking, epic, infinite record, not to mention the cataclysm of ALL tracks.
Most of them are +7mins but you dont get tired listening to four great musicians doing great music. Its sophisticated groove-jazz-hardcore-punk-blues.

After years of toiling in relative obscurity, being a ghetto superstar of the hardcore world, Hank and his crew are released on a world that was ill-prepared for such brutal honesty and power. This is the Rollins Band at its tightest and groovingest...Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) said of this album; "The Rollins Band stands next to a mountain and pound it to dust." What an understatement - 72 minutes of Henry daring you (and himself) to do or be something...while crushing all who stand in his way with typically searing, sincere vocals and pounding rhythms. The Rollins Band was a well kept secret in the hardcore world prior to 1992, live shows that were pure Darwinism, weeding out the weak and frail of body and mind, making stronger those who survived, there was never a more deserved break-out than the Rollins Band.

Thanks Hank!

This album, in my opinion, represents the peak of the Rollins Band. Rollins himself never sounded better (and proves his worth as a vocalist) and the songs almost approach progressive metal with their epicness and approach. It is an hour and 12 minute cartharsis of pain, frustration, and alienation, and has to be listened to all the way thru to be the most enjoyed. Chris Haskett is one of the best riff masters in the tradition of Robert Fripp and Tony Iomni and Andrew Weiss almost (just almost -Cliff did indeed rule) makes Cliff Burton sound like a beginning bass player with his virtoustic bass playing. Sim Cain nearly gives Tool's drummer a run for his money and the production is clear, cutting, and awesome. And on to the melody. Yes Rollins sings on this album, and he sounds pretty damn good at times. Just listen to "Grip" and you'll see what I'm talking about. You can also hear a bit of a more melodic metal influence in songs like "You Didn't Need". Then there is his usual yelling, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had to see a throat doctor after recording this considering the spine tingling screams on "Just Like You". All in all, I would say this is one of my favorite albums of all time, and if I ever had to choose "desert island discs" this would be one of them..

This was the album that introduced me to Rollins and his band. An absolutely crushing collection of songs that made albums before seem novice in comparison and a standard that the albums after have yet to live up to. I attribute alot of the music quality to bassist Andrew Weiss, who left the band after this album. He gave it the deep, heavy feeling that made the album what it is. When I'm pissed off and need to get out some aggression I skip right past Slayer and At the Gates and throw in this album. This is Rollins at his best.

I bought the new Rollins band CD nice about 6 months ago.And to put it plainly this guy is prbably one of the most intense but creative performers I have ever heard. On the CD there's tons of different singers from the backup singers on "up for it" to the power of "gone inside the zero". You can tell it's a bad time for music when Limp bizkit or Blink 182 are #1 on the charts, no thanks to MTV. The amazing thing is I found more talent in a 40 year old punk rocker than an 18 year old girl who dances around half naked because her manager told her to. This is an amazing CD for any true music fan and to tell you the truth this guy is a true role model who cares about what happens in the world around them, which can make a very deep impression on a 15 year boy old kid like myself.

For those of you who want to hear Rollins at his best, this is it. This CD is nothing other than pure emotion and power put into a recording. This is the best work that Rollins has done and by far the best album he has done with Rollins Band. For music that hits harder than a sledgehammer this is it.