Album Review: Blindside - 'With Shivering Hearts We Wait'

For those who were lucky enough to discover Sweden’s Blindside around 2002 with their album ‘Silence,’ the band has never faltered, releasing brilliant records every few years, the last being their finest, 2005’s ‘The Great Depression.’ The wait since then has been a long one, but the group are finally back with their new record ‘With Shivering Hearts We Wait,’ and it is safe to say that they have maintained their reputation by releasing another great album.

The record begins with its strongest track, There Must Be Something In The Water, a grating rock riff that tussles with frontman Christian Lindskog’s seamless changes between clean and dirty vocals. The theme of this track and its follower, My Heart Escapes, combines heavy tones with beautiful orchestral arrangements giving the band a hum of epic proportions.

The mood shifts for the first single Monster On The Radio, which features a slightly new take on the group’s sound. The band have always progressed and tweaked themselves with every release and with this track, the programmed beat and catchy/dance like chorus not only makes the song an obvious single, but also gives fans something new.

Another stand out is the melodic, Bloodstained Hollywood Ending, a hook heavy rocker that sounds like all of the best parts of Blindside over the years combined. This leads brilliantly into the gloomy Our Love Saves Us and one of the heaviest songs on the record, Bring Out Your Dead.

Things end all too soon with the album clocking in under forty minutes, and if the track record is anything to go by, the knowledge that it will be years until another release, but the band leave with the haunting atmospheric tones of Cold, and the mirror image of the opener, There Must Be Something In The Wind.

When looking at the record as a whole, this is one of the most diverse Blindside releases as far as sound is concerned. An amazing element of the band is that they have always managed to maintain their style and sound despite the fact that their albums are vastly different to one another, this coupled with the fact that the group has managed to stay relevant whilst releasing great music, it’s a wonder why they are relatively unknown by the masses.

1. There Must Be Something in the Water
2. My Heart Escapes
3. Monster on the Radio
4. It's All I Have
5. Bloodstained Hollywood Ending
6. Our Love Saves Us
7. Bring Out Your Dead
8. Withering
9. Cold
10. There Must Be Something in the Wind