Blindside -- Blindside

8/10

When many people talk about Blindside and say "The First One," they are referring to Silence, Blindside's major-label debut. What those people are missing out on is two fully-realized, excellent albums during Blindside's indie-label days. This self-titled album is actually Blindside's first.
Blindside is a bit of an anomaly in Blindside's discography, and in the music world in general. It has no genre. It's heavy, but it's not quite metal. Sure, vocalist, Christian Lindskog, screams sometimes, but he sings just as well, and he never sticks to a pattern of scream verse/sing chorus. He does whatever the emotion calls for at the moment. The music is certainly not nu-metal, but it's too heavy to simply be tossed off as hard-rock. It is a 44-minute blast of pure energy from start to finish.
Blindside is unpolished, especially compared to the band's major label work, harsh, but with a bit of atmosphere. The passion one would expect from a Blindside release is already intact here at the start, but if anything gets in the way of counting this among the band's best, it's the band's youth. While all of Blindside's releases show diversity, here it seems less from the band's collective talent and imagination, and more from not quite being sure what Blindside is yet.
Regardless, this is a solid release, a knockout debut, and not to be missed.
Check out "Empty Box" for a taste of the uncharacterizable chaos:

Hear Christian Lindskog sing like Kurt Cobain on the bridge of "Liberty"

And finally, for Blindside taking on a big, atmospheric sound, "Born"


1997 Solid State Records
1. Invert 3:06
2. Burn 3:28
3. Empty Box 4:05
4. Superman 2:43
5. Nerve 2:45
6. This Shoulder 3:15
7. Replay 2:46
8. One Mind 4:12
9. Liberty 3:13
10. Daughter 2:24
11. Teddy Bear 4:27
12. Never 4:26