Labels: Function
Review by: Kunal Nandi
Silent Front is a London-area trio in the grand post-hardcore, noise-rock tradition that has been going for close to two decades now. It certainly sounds like it, with a precise, tight-wound, constructed and crafted quality to their discordance. Songs shift schizophrenically from walls of sonic density to a mellow plaintiveness, all with an impending tension looming over proceedings. Rocksteady drums, churning bass and inventive guitar mangling evoke the likes of Shellac and various other Chicago math-rock luminaries. It can feel a little overwrought at times due to the intensely serious vibe, but it when it hits home, it hits hard, although it is perhaps at its most effective and affecting when restraint is deployed, such as on the lovely “Confiance”. A class record from a class act.