Language of Silence - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	Blood Meridian
•	Death on the Installment Plan
•	Numb
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•	Pepperbox Muzzle

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Though Language of Silence, Numb's sixth full-length, marks the band's 10th year, it's been a decade spent in relative obscurity, especially in light of the fact that Numb hail from Vancouver, Canada, home to both Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy--escaping the long shadows cast by those industrial superheroes must be a bit like being the other playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon. All that aside, Numb play an extremely muscular, testosterone-fueled brand of straight-ahead industrial dance music. Pounding rhythms compete with dark synth sounds and monstrous vocals, all of which adhere to the tried-and-true industrial formula. The only respite are the occasional ambient instrumental tracks ("Illumination Rounds," "Benthos"), which possess an old-school charm. As on 1997's Blood Meridian, Numb abandon their earlier guitar sound, favoring a synth-only approach. It's definitely an improvement, but Don Gordon's consistently shouted vocals fail to generate any true intensity, making Language of Silence sound more like Language of Unfocused Anger. --Steve Landau

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Harsh electronic masterpiece June 12, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Numb have done it again, another harsh rhythmic masterpiece from this veteran electronic band from Vancouver. The cd is filled with Don Gordon's electronic mayhem and vocalist Dave Collings' shredding vocal stylings. Tracks such as "respect" and "immolate" feature staccato keyboards, clanging rhythms and Collings' shouted vocal rantings. Several tracks begin with extended instrumental passages that slowly build into fuller songs with vocals. After the one-two punch of "respect" and "suspended", track 3 "deviation" slows to a midtempo pace with spoken/whispered vocals. There are three atmospheric instrumentals on the cd with a sense of paranoia present due to the whispered vocal samples, otherworldly choirs, and noises appearing intermittently. Track 5 "no remorse" takes on a harsh minimal beat with hissed/whispered vocals reminiscent of Euro groups like Suicide Commando and Dive. Overall Gordon's electronic experimentation, occasional use of thumping beats, scrap metal rhythms, and chugging guitar buried deep in the mix (for texture) provide a solid balance to Collings' surprisingly varied vocal harshness. The instrumentals and long instrumental song intro's give the listener a respite to the more driving tracks. This is comparable to any of the best offerings from New Mind, Nitzer Ebb, Ministry, NIN, Dive, or Unit 187.

4 out of 5 stars

4 and a half REALLY! September 14, 2003
Numb is one of the better so called "industrial" bands to come out in the 1990's. This band has always challenged themselves with atypical melodies and chord progressions. This CD only had two cuts that are not unique in that they do fall prey to that Trance beat in a way, but even those songs show uniqueness and depth. The rest of the CD starts to show a lean towards the sound they present on Blood Meridian. The band's use of synthetics is full, fresh and mature. I am thinking the band is not around any more, which is an industrial listener's loss. Fantastic spin!

5 out of 5 stars

hidden treasure December 18, 2004
Now i give this cd 5 stars just due to one song. yea yea...well its my review and i can do what i want so... stop interupting!
Now in no way am i shooting the rest of the cd down, its a solid industrial release for sure. And its much better then a lot of the techno garbage with raspy vocals that seems to pass as "industrial" music nowdays. but i drift...
The track Closer is about 8mins long and should be a soundtrack for a sci-fi horror flick for sure. That one track is worth the 5 star rating imo.

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