Glassjaw - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
Released: 9th May, 2000 (Roadrunner)
Band:
Daryl Palumbo - Vocals
Beck - Guitar
Manuel Carrero - Bass
Sammy Siegler - Drums
Todd Weinstock - Guitar
Produced by Ross Robinson.
Genre Disclaimer:
I've read the
Worship and Tribute review several times and it's pretty much a constant fight on the genre of this band. I've put them in post-hardcore as it seems that is what people accept them as. If you have an issue with this contact me somewhere else and I'll change the genre if you convince me, I don't want this review spammed up like the W&T review.
Review:
Glassjaw formed around 1994 in Long Island. It existed as a weekend outlet for the band originally and eventually in time grew into something much greater. The band released an EP on their own effort in 1997 called
Kiss kiss bang bang.
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence is the bands first full-length album and came out in 2000.
Turn on MTV2 or Fuse. You see Taking Back Sunday? The Used? Finch? Well none of them would be here today if it wasn't for this album. This album at the time of its release was original and Glassjaws unique sound captured them a legion of fans. In the booklet of Finchs album '
What It Is To Burn' the band thank Glassjaw for "Being the best fu
cking band ever". Hmm TBS, The Used, Finch? Urgh I hear you saying. Glassjaw put them all to shame. When comparing these bands to Glassjaw across the board Glassjaw comes out tops hands down. The lyrics, the vocals, the guitars, the bass and the drums are all fantastic.
This album ranges from full in your face hardcore
Babe, Hurting And Shoving to soft beauties like
Her Middle Name Was Boom and even punk enthused tracks such as
Ry Ry's Song. There's an element of everything in Glassjaws sound and it comes off right throughout the album.
Daryl was obviously an angry man at the time of this album, constant references are made degrading women (There's a story about his ex gf cheating on him behind the lyrics but I don't have details). Lines such as "
I only beat you when I'm drunk, you're only pretty when you're crying" and "
Gun em all down you filthy whore" imply this. However don't let that put you off. Daryls lyrics are alot more subtle than that for the most part. Lines like "
There's a woman sitting in a motel room counting minutes and seconds, adding to her list of 'One Hour Loves'" in Ry Ry's song paint fantastic images in the listeners head and in
Siberian Kiss when talking about being cheated on "
Give me back my pictures of me, Me, You and him makes Three" help you see inside the sad and somewhat twisted world of Daryl Palumbo. There are also some clever song titles such as
When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros a fantastic metaphor for a relationship breaking up.
Looking at the musicianship side everything here is top notch. Sammy Siegler (of CIV fame) has the sticks in the album and does a great job. This is one of the few 'Post-Hardcore' albums I own that features songs out of 4/4 time.
Her Middle Name Was Boom and
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence are both in 6/8 time, something refreshing to the musicians ear. Guitars are done well, the two guitarists work very well together. Sometimes in traditional lead and backing roles and other times swapping with each other to push the melody. The bass playing here is the best I've heard on any 'Post-Hardcore' albums aswell. I love the bassline in
Siberian Kiss and the bass playing here is constantly strong. However Glassjaws true strength is Daryl. His vocals are at the forefront of the album and he doesn't disappoint. He can scream, he can sing, he can talk, and he can do just about anything vocally. It's amazing listening to him in this album. The pure emotion in his voice makes nearly every track here a classic
Siberian Kiss, Ry Ry's Song, Her Middle Name Was Boom, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence and the piano track at the end of the album are all fantastic songs. Why? Because Daryls voice is so bl
oody amazing in them. The emotion and power is incredible.
To do an incredible album justice I'm going to include a track by track review aswell. Here it is.
Track By Track:
Pretty Lush
Straight into the album, it's a high energy song kicking off right from the start with Daryl borderlining between screaming and singing. The pre chorus comes in and slows down the pace of the song and Daryl pushes his singing. The transition to chorus works flawlessly. The chorus in itself is great. Catchy as hell. Another verse, pre chorus and chorus (Pretty standard formula for a song) then it's into the breakdown. The breakdown picks up more and more energy and aggression and finally into the last chorus. The song brims with energy and though not instantly likeable it is a great way to start the album.
8/10
Siberian Kiss
One of the best Glassjaw songs ever. Rammed with emotion from head to toe the song never lets up. Like
Pretty Lush the song picks up right from the start. The first minute of the song is the band throwing a mental. Daryl yells and the guitars are huge here. Then there's the chorus and what a chorus. The emotion in Daryls voice is larger than life. The high-pitched guitar line works perfectly against his singing. Another Glassjaw breakdown follows the chorus and like
Pretty Lush the breakdown picks up more and more energy as the song continues. In comes the chorus again then it's repeated but the band go off a different way. Just one guitar is used and the bass comes in slowly the music builds up again with Daryl singing "
I keep you jealously to myself" and the song drifts out with broken vocals. It's an incredible song and one I loved instantly.
10/10
When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
I love the name of this song. A metaphor for a broken relationship. The song unlike the previous two starts off with a bass riff everyone comes in around 10 seconds and Daryl sings in a dissented tone of voice "
I'm glad when you're near and sad when you're here, this is what it's like to be me". This bridge goes for a while then it's just drums and it moves into the verse. The verse is centred around Daryls voice and slows down alot. It moves into the chorus which is a pretty standard Glassjaw chorus (Aka Great). The intro bridge comes in again with another verse. The bass playing is very notable in the verse and accompanies Daryls voice very well. You could say the tone of this song is bitter but then in an almost 180 Glassjaw come off sounding something like a pop-punk band. The bridge of the song is great. It's major key completely changes the mood of the song before again heading into a chorus. The song fades out with the same bridge as the intro but just with Daryls vocals. It's a very smart song this one. Not quite Siberian Kiss but good none the less.
8/10
Ry Ry's Song
Energy level at 100 for this song. A quick scream then some very bass kick filled drumming and it's into the song. Daryls vocals are amazing at this song. The vocals are incredible. As mentioned in the review previously the lyrics here are VERY well written. Daryls vocals range from an almost punk type sound to his standard singing tone then yet again he finds another tone for the chorus. All work well and the chorus here is great. This song is catchy as hell as shows a bit more of a punkier side of the band. A highlight is the bridge where Daryl sings the chorus with just the drums behind him. It sounds great. It's one of the albums standout songs.
10/10
Lovebites and Razorlines
This is the crudest song lyrically. Lines such as "
Suck on the end of this dick that cums lead" and "
Gun em all down you filthy whore" are somewhat common place. It opens up with the hardest intro yet with Daryl screaming the above lines. Then much like
Pretty Lush the song moves into a slow pre-chorus. It's chorus time and another great chorus. The whole songs mood changes for it with Daryl pushing up the emotion. "
I know a girl who sells herself around" will be stuck in your head for a while. The song pushes both extremes. It's a good song but the crudeness in the lyrics and the constant mood changes leaves it not as memorable as the previous songs.
7.5/10
Hurting and Shoving (She Should Have Let Me Sleep)
To me this song doesn't do that much to distinguish itself from the previous song. It's the hardest song to date and the name in itself suggests that. It doesn't really have any lines that stand out and grab the listener and falls down to be a touch bland. I don't skip it when I listen to the song but it's not one I will put in the CD just to listen to. The outro however is pretty awesome with Daryl yet again finding a new tone for his vocal delivery. 6/10
Majour
Daryls vocals and clean guitar open this song. Lyrics again directed at the ex "Bad taste in my mouth you would think I'm a whore, bad taste in my mouth you would think I'm you." Daryl sings in the chorus. The verses in this song are pretty cool, the bass drives the verse with a touch of flanged guitar over the top. When both guitars come in for the chorus it picks up the energy alot. The outro is pretty cool. Daryl constantly sings "Embody me with your body" and the high pitched guitar going over the top has some weird effect going on. It sounds cool none the less. Slowly the song loses its energy as Daryls voice leads the song out with sweeping guitars giving the song a lonely feeling. Hard to describe exactly, lonely is the word that comes to mind. A good song but it's nothing special. 7.5/10
Her Middle Name Was Boom
Classic song. Comes in with a drum and bass intro, Daryls vocals work their way in and a quiet guitar line comes over the top. Daryls voice sounds amazing. His best singing in the album yet. The song has a slowpace and is in 6/8. The chorus here is on level with Siberian Kiss and Ry Ry's Song. It's pure emotion of Daryls behalf with the guitars backing up his voice very well. The second verse is great, Daryl continues singing and I really like the lyrics "If you touch it.. it's cold, If you drop it.. it breaks, If you hold it.. it shakes. 'Boom' she said". It's undeniably the chorus that makes this song though and good thing it's done three times. After the third chorus it sounds like the song is about to end but then cue a huge gut wrenching scream from Daryl and back it up with some crazy guitar effects and you get a very twisted yet awesome bridge. And just like throughout the album the mood suddenly changes, from the twisted bridge to more beautiful singing from Daryl as the song slowly drifts out. This song truly is beautiful. 10/10
Piano
This is the first Glassjaw song I ever heard and what struck me more than anything was the lyrics. The visual imagery they paint is what makes them so strong "Three times alone this week, I was sposed to be a rockstar. I only beat you when I'm drunk, you're only pretty when you're crying". The vocals accompany the palm muted guitar line in the verses very well and then it pulls into a chorus reminiscent of the chorus in Majour. Some nice drumming fills in this song. The bridge here is very cool, half of it is Daryl and bass then the guitar and hi hat comes in over it before building up with the drums. Yet again another mood change in the song but it doesn't seem at all out of place. Finally the outro which stays in the mood of the bridge and builds up with Daryl finally yelling "I've got to keep my P.M.A". 8/10
Babe
The hardest track here on the album. Also in my opinion the weakest, it lacks a structure and really just sounds like lots of screams with big guitar fills between screams. Sammy shows off his speed drumming on the song. It's only a minute forty-three thankfully. Maybe some people would like this song, I know I don't however. 4/10
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence
It starts off alot like Her Middle Name Was Boom this track, drum and bass intros and then into a verse. Infact the two songs in terms of structure are almost identical but Daryls vocals make the songs distinct and make sure they don't sound alike. The verses have a cool guitar melody going over Daryls vocals. Then comes the chorus, like Her Middle Name Was Boom the chorus is incredible. The first chorus is just Daryl talking with screaming over the top but the emotion is still felt and it explodes. Another verse comes in and after this the chorus is here for real and bloody hell. Pure emotion rips through Daryls voice. Words can't describe the power of this chorus. When you buy this album (Which you will do after reading this review) you can experience the power for yourself. The bridge slows things right down before another amazing chorus with screams galore. Daryl screams at the end of the song "This is what it's like to be alone" and what a haunting picture it paints. Another beautiful and amazing song. 10/10
Motel Of The White Locust
Turn up the angst for the last track of the album. Daryls voice here is pretty powerful, he's not screaming but he's sure putting alot of power behind his vocals. The chorus here is another standard CAF (Catchy As Fuck) Glassjaw type chorus. Daryl lets out a bloody awesome scream in the bridge. The song is short but sweet. Alot of power and energy. Ends after two and a half minutes then Daryl says nine times "Pack your shit and leave, and take my memories of her with you" ended with "Pack your shit and leave, and take her fucking... with you". The message of the album summed up in two sentences. 9/10
Bonus Track
This song is at the end of Motel Of The White Locust. When the talking part ends there's a minute of light ambient song before this song starts. It's a piano ballad. Simply Piano and Daryl. Lyrically this really sums up the album "Now I have you where I want you, I know that you are listening. This is my chance to tell you everything. A chance to tell I love you.. but I've waited too long. Now the records over". It's completely different to anything else on the album and yet still great. 8.5/10
Conclusion
One bad song on an album of 13 is not bad going. Especially when there are so many standout songs. Emotion is the key to this album. Daryls vocals and lyrics are amazing and backed up by a talented group of musicians. This is one of the best albums I own, there is no question about it. I highly suggest any of the songs I've rated as a 10 for anyone that hasn't heard this band. I also highly suggest you pick up this album.
Rating: 4.5/5
Well I think Worship and Tribute may be a bit more accsesible than this album, this one is alot angrier. I suggest download 'Cosmopolitan Bloodloss' off Worship and Tribute for a first Glassjaw song ever.
