Press
01-02-1997
Review: Silverchair, Freak Show (Epic)
By J.D. Considine (Baltimore Sun)
The members of Silverchair are barely the age of high school seniors,
so it's tempting to make jokes about the relative maturity exhibited by
the group's sophomore release, Freak Show. But the album would stand as
an impressive achievement of musicians twice as old.
True, some of the riffage is a bit on the simplistic side, as with the
sledgehammer subtlety of Roses and the sludgy repetition of Slave, and
there are moments (Learn To Hate, in particular) when singer/guitarist
Daniel Johns seems a tad too indebted to Kurt Cobain. But those are
fairly minor failings overall and do little to diminish the pleasures
of those tunes, much less of such exuberantly melodic material as the
Indian-tinged country rocker The Door. Moreover, when silverchair truly
does find its groove, as on the throbbing, resentful Freak, its blend
of lyrical intelligence and melodic muscle makes the band seem much
wiser than its years.