Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Good Ol' Blindside Boys, August 5, 2005
No album of Blindside has been the same as the one before. Since 1994 Blindside has wowed listeners with musical brilliance and lyrical astuteness, and they do so again. The fans of their self-titled debut album, found "A Thought Crushed My Mind" to be an acquired taste with tracks such as "My Mother's Only Son" and "Nara." And again with "Silence" and once more with "About a Burning Fire". Like the previous albums, "The Great Depression" should be taken, to a certain extent, independently from their other releases. So, if you're looking for the "old Blindside," I don't think you'll find it in the way you expect.
You think you've got Blindside figured out? Think again. This album has a different taste, it's true, but just like the other four albums, it won't leave your stereo until the last song is played... at least. You'll find traces of the "old Blindside" in different songs. For example, "Come to Rest" appeals most to their self-titled debut, whereas "Put Back the Stars" reminds me of "Midnight" of their album "Silence." However, to really enjoy the music of this album, you need to dig deep in the lyrics. They talk about the Christian every day fight with themselves, not the devil, in order to give God the best of who they are. Words such as "Break my jaw, I don't care/ Just stay with me, Stay" stand out and us that it's better to be found in God at any cost, than to never find yourself in the world.
Truly deep words pair up with beautifully reflective music to provide a glance into who we are and what we should be. Oh, yeah, there are songs that take you back to each of the four last albums, but they have a new, familiar sound that you just can't not fall in love with.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece, September 7, 2005
I am well aware that the reviews consist on a personal opinion, and to that I have no objection. But there are a few undeniable qualities that need to be pointed out.
Obviously, if you think that every song in this album sounds alike... you must be either deaf or musically challenged, or simply you haven't finished hearing the album. It'd be like telling me that "Yamkela" sounds like "My Alibi" or that "Come to Rest" sounds like "You must be Bleeding under Your Eyelids." Clearly, your judgment in music is misguided.
Aside from the fact that almost every single album ever released has one or two similar songs within the album (one can only make so many variations to a genre), Blindside makes every album sound differently than their last album released. To me, that is maturity. To have the musical wisdom to create and differenciate music and play it with talent. I will say that this album is shows maturity... just like "About A Burning Fire" showed it... just like "Silence" showed it... just like "A Thought Crushed my Mind" showed it. Maturity is not about sounding serious... it's about accepting the challenge to create unconformity.
Garage band? Hardly. Perhaps you haven't been to a concert of theirs, but truly... no garage band there. Rest assured that you will be jumping up and down or bobbing your head as the opening chords of "Yamkela" strike your ears. Don't fool yourself.
It's Blindside... that alone should be the spark that makes you say: "I knew this was going to be good!"
I am no hypocrite, I love Blindside BECAUSE I like their music and message... I don't go stomping on it, to then say: "I love you, Blindside." Don't fool yourself.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Great Blindside, August 3, 2005
This record is the album Blindside fans never saw coming. The band has reached such an emotional maturity in their musicianship that I am just torn apart inside by each song and all of the different images and moods they conjure up inside of me.They put away the catchy hooks that made About a Burning Fire so amazing and decide to focus more on mood and the thematic elements that make this more of a concept album than anything else.
Blindside stripped down their sound and have rebuilt it to give the guitars a much more creepier feel. Simon's melodies have a lovely way of pulling away just when you think they are going for the big catchy riff the band has become known for. He pulls away and instead Christians voice provides the hook and makes every song that much more powerful. The bass is the heart of this great depression as it keeps the tone and feel of the record consistent and the drumming adds a distant echo to the soft songs and a crashing insanity to the fewer hard songs.
This is definetly the kind of record that gives a band like Blindside the kind of artistic credit the genre seems to never receive by critics. The lyrics are some of Christians best and the "fun" lyrics of About a Burning Fire (Hooray for L.A., Swallow) are now set aside for much more deep and disturbing trip to the real flesh and bones of the front man we've known all these years. The song structures are disjointed and may put off some first time listeners but these are the kinds of songs that can grow on you while other songs on this album just grab you and won't let go.
So what should fans expect? This is the kind of experimental and emotional intensity fans have longed for since their sophomore record. With Silence they proved they had what it takes to play with the big boys but with About a Burning Fire and now The Great Depression they have proven themselves to be an artistic and sensitive band that is more than just hooks and catchy riffs. This is the album that seperates the casual fan from the diehard fan. This is Blindside for the ages, this is The Great Depression.
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