Blindside has come a long way as a band, artistically as well as geographically. Each successive album has shown a lot of growth, and has found the band branching into new territories of sound, and The Great Depression is hardly an exception. The title track leading off the disc is a spoken/instrumental piece, introducing the ideas driving the album's theme (and hopefully you've figured out what that is by now).
The second track, "This is a Heart Attack" is an excellent start to the bulk of the album. The tempo and main rhythm of the song just emits a sense of being relentless, and Christian Lindskog's vocals cover a well balanced blend of melodic singing and yelling/screaming (both of which he is excellent at doing) that should be familiar to fans. Overall, it's a song that one could classify as being standard Blindside, but the band also throws in the twist of adding some electronics, particularly at the end of the track, which adds some extra depth, as well as evoking the welcome feeling of "hey, that's new".
That sort of occurrence is not an isolated incident, either. Three excellent tracks later, "Yamkela" spends most of its time simply rocking your face off, and ends with a slow, simple, and almost eerie piano part. Several other tracks follow a similar formula, creating a sort of theme that really helps tie the album together. "My Alibi," which starts off somewhat subdued, kicks into an electronic dance beat at about the halfway mark, which was simultaneously completely unexpected and really cool.
Other tracks that require mention and demand your attention are the beautiful and haunting "This Time" and "Fell in Love with the Game" which is definitely one of those songs you'll find playing in your head at odd moments.
If there were a single way to sum up The Great Depression, it would have to be that the disc is uncannily balanced. These gentlemen have really outdone themselves this time around. Every technical aspect of this album is excellent, but more than that, there's just something about it that embeds itself into your consciousness and keeps repeating "this is awesome, this is awesome..." With no hesitation, I can say this is one of the coolest albums released this year. Go. Listen. Now.
5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2005Reviewed by Len NashThere has never been a moment where Blindside could stick with a genre and settle on it. Blindside is one of those rare bands that can change things while keeping a little bit of an influence from a previous CD intact. There are some hints of About a Burning Fire (i.e. screaming, shouting) and CDs prior to that, yet The Great Depression is of its own entity. It was hard for me to get into this CD…
