Reviews

You remember that blanket you had when you were a kid?  You know, the one your mom used to wrap you up in at night, the one you dragged around the house and into the car. The comfortable feeling of something you knew. Listening to this cd was like curling up in that blanket again, with the sounds of Dan Precision’s melodic hardcore guitar washing over me. I grew up with his former band 88 Fingers Louie running the soundtrack of grade school, when they reformed Back on the Streets played my first years of high school, and when they finally broke up for good it was the sounds of Rise Against’s first cd The Unraveling which took me away from my small town and into college. Even the project between Rise Against and Break the Silence, a little known band called All Else Fails, has been a big part of my life.  And now, Mr. Precision is back with Break the Silence. I am biased on this review, very very biased.  Break the Silence sound mostly similar to All Else Fails, combining some pretty poppy melodies with hardcore breakdowns and fast punk rock, but this time there is an added element of screaming vocals interspersed with melodic. The guitar is very reminiscent of the early Rise Against and older 88 Fingers music, with a thick metal sound at times highlighted by quick octave solos with a general punk rock structure. I was very impressed with the added screaming vocals because they add a more hardcore aspect to the sound of All Else Fails which was often very poppy. I want to stress that when I say they mix pop-punk-and metal, it is not like one of the new fangled genre bender bands, they are definitely identifiable as punk/hardcore, and closer to the melodic hardcore stylings of a Good Riddance or Strike Anywhere than to Bigwig or From Autumn to Ashes. The song structure is another big plus, all the songs develop well and feel like they are complete. Check out the first track, At War With Instinct, and the last track, Loud and Clear, for a sample of the best stuff on this cd, and then go buy it because it is a great release.