Forever immortalized in my memory, local Metal outfit Fellsilent represented an exciting time in the musical adventure, as me and my friends started visiting our local Metal bars and clubs. At our first outing these polyrhythmic Djent brutes stole my heart! It was at a time when Meshuggah where still yet to gain their status as extreme innovators and pioneers of a new sound. Finding a local act embracing this sound and executing it with utter class just felt like a match made in heaven. Never has a revisit to this glorious era ever failed me and my recent dive into Catch Thirtythree of the same time had me reveling in the demos and this four track EP again!
The band have a instinct for big lurking riffs that slog out grooves with a mechanical coldness. Soft melodies seep in through gleaming acoustics, Post-Rock guitar ambience and subtle shifts in tone as a colorful notes align themselves alongside these beastly marches of stomping metallic bludgeoning. The balance in complexity is inviting, keeping polyrhythms locked in the 4/4 bar makes it easy to follow and all the more infectious! Every song has a keen cut of riffs to fit into typical song structures but always do they lead to some form of mammoth peak or breakdown in the final third.
All four songs are superb. Silence Is The Loudest Cry For Help a timeless lyrics that conveys an emotional current to its otherwise chromatic, relentless, battering aesthetic. The vocals add to this grey onslaught. Neema Askari has a distinctly flat and harsh approach, straining his chords with some personality. When they open into uplifting clean sections the relief is simply brilliant. Again its all put together with that final third of a song ascending to its peak and their is no exception.
This band is so ingrained into my being. They were like an illusive beast we never saw again for years as the shows just didn't seem to line up. I think we eventually got to see them again with Enter Shikari a couple more times before they split up in 2010. Its a shame but not all bands make it. Despite being utterly brilliant the stars didn't align and so its likely they will be buried by time and dust a little fast than most but if you love Djent, do yourself a favor and give this record a try! Its a gem!
Rating: 8/10