Silverchair - Freak Show Review

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Tracklist:
1. Slave
2. Freak
3. Abuse Me
4. Lie To Me
5. No Association
6. Cemetery
7. The Door
8. Pop Song For Us Rejects
9. Learn To Hate
10. Petrol & Chlorine
11. Roses
12. Nobody Came
13. The Closing

Release Date: 1997

user rating

3.5
great

Chart.

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On 2 Lists

4.5
superb

guitarnugget USER (5 Reviews)

2005-09-13 | 14 comments | 1,876 views

1 of 4 thought this review was well written

Silverchair is one of Australia's premier performers, including songwriting Kurt Cobain might have admired, instrumentations that would make Pink Floyd's mouth drop, and singing that every garage band singer tries to top. Silverchair - formed in 1992, when the bandmates were only 12, was a band in Australia, Silverchair won a songwriting contest in 94 and signed a contract with the small-time record label Murmer. With their first EP Frogstomp (1995), which was Australia's 4th best selling CD yet. This got some international attention, by the record label Epic, and months later, Frogstomp was released in the US. It got great reviews, and was one of the years biggest albums, and Silverchair were internationally famous, only at 15 years of age. Then came Freak show (1997), the album that some referred to as regurgitation, but others called a classic. Expanded songwriting and performances made this album the essential Silverchair album to date.

Silverchair:
Daniel Johns: Lead Vox, Guitar
Chris Jouannou: Bass, Vox
Ben Gillies: Drums

Track Listings:

1-Slave - starts out like a good old fashioned rock song, but gradually ascends into a mess of distorted guitars, heavy rhythms, and a mellow vocal performance by Johns. This song keeps up it's intense performance, and the chorus is a key performance by Silverchair.

4.5/5

2-Freak- starts out a lot like Slave - old fashioned rock songish- kind of riff, that remains strong throughout the verse. The chorus rolls along, and despite a change of chords and lyrics it's basically the same as the verse, and when it drifts into the mellow pre-verse part, the song begins to grow on you, but it's not the stuff that made this album great.

3.5/5

3-Abuse Me- A four minute song that has an eighties hard rock feel to it, it's not bad, but not that good either. the whole chord progression really gets tiring and the lyrics are sappy and whiny, but the whole song isn't bad, and deserves at least a 2.5 But wait! at about 2:00, it gets into a great pre-verse that helps the song at least 1.5 stars.

4/5

4-Lie To Me- At 1:22, this doesn't really have an effect on the albums overall review, but it's still fun to listen to, if you can hold out, because it crams 4 minutes of hard rock music into a short amount. It's actually really good- one of the best tracks

4.5/5

5-No Association- It's starts out with an electric feel to it, and then in comes the bass with a powerhouse beat, that sticks in there the whole song. the lyrics are okay, but the show stealer is the drumming to the chorus, the backbone of the song.

4/5

6-Cemetery- A post Emotion Sickness beauty involving lurching guitars over an orchestral epic. The lyrics are complex, and the performances are genious, as well as the vocal range that Johns can cover. It's the 2nd best song on the cd. The 2nd half is just an epic of lurching vocals over the beauty of the orchestration.

5/5

7-The Door- Starts with an indian sitar giving the roots to the song, followed by a great continutation of the riff by Johns and the gang. Another higlight is the faint sitar in the background that barely hangs in there to make this another great song.

4.5/5

8-Pop Song For Us Rejects - A poppy acoustic song that tranforms into an electric mess of heavy beats and riffs and angst-filled lyrics that change quickly into that poppy ditty that you would like to hate, but you know you secretley love it. The violin is a great touch.

4/5

9-Learn To Hate- The 3rd best song on the cd, despite the fact that the word "hate" is repeated more than 8 times during the song, and some of the lyrics are whiney, but the music is what holds the song together to give it that rank. the lull is expected, but one of the highlights of the song.

4.5/5

10-Petrol & Chlorine- Another poppy song is interupted by a dark, deep sitar break, that helps this song immensley. The percussion is good, and the bridge is great, making this song a standout.

4.5/5

11-Roses- The best song on the album may not start out that great, but moves into a beautiful song about what? i dunno, but that doesn't stop this powerhouse of a song. The chorus is great, including the lyric "smelling dead roses". This song is essential for all walks of music.

5/5

12-Nobody Came- Another old fashioned song, but this time takes on the role of Led Zeppelins "In My Time Of Dying". Good lyrics, and a great sluggish chorus come together to make another great song. This song is arguably one of the best songs on this record, if not in total by Silverchair.

5/5

13-The closing- Ugly guitars and mean vocals come together to make the last song on the cd. not much of a fuss, and not that good, until about halfway, where it starts to catch your interest.

3.5/5

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