Blindside -- With Shivering Hearts We Wait

8/10

After a six year gap between full lengths, Blinside are back in full force with With Shivering Hearts We Wait. The band took their time with this release and it shows. Everything on this album seems meticulous, including the pared down ten track count, the shortest of any Blindside album. This extra time also allowed Blindside to focus on exactly what kind of sound they wanted to go for.
WSHWW is heavy on strings, and electronic elements, keyboards, and even programmed beats at some points, but underneath is still the same Blindside we all know and love. Blindside have been compared to Muse more than anyone else with what they've done on this album, and while that comparison isn't off, Blindside still sound more like Blindside than anyone else, even on the most experimental tracks, like "Our Love Saves Us."

Perhaps the best marriage of the various musical themes found throughout WSHWW occurs on the closing track, "There Must Be Somthing in the Wind." It's got all the strings, beats, and electronic stuff in full force, but it also features the band playing their instruments at the height of their powers, and Christian Lindskog singing at the top of his game.

Also true to good old Blindside is the lyrical depth. WSHWW is more relationship focused than any other Blindside album, whether that be between humans, or between God and man, and the album title in regard to these lyrical explorations is quite apt. Song titles and certain lines hint at a depth that can only be reached with multiple listens, and six months after its release, With Shivering Hearts We Wait is still growing on me and changing every time I hear it.
Despite this album almost functioning as a comeback for Blindside, it also sounds as if it could be a goodbye. I really hope that is not the case. Six years between albums is tough, but no more albums is much worse. Let's hope this isn't the last we hear of Blindside. Seventeen years into their career, they still sound as vital as ever.

2011 Red Ink
1. There Must Be Something In the Water 3:56
2. My Heart Escapes 3:41
3. Monster On the Radio 3:09
4. It's All I Have 3:50
5. Bloodstained Hollywood Ending 3:13
6. Our Love Saves Us 3:27
7. Bring Out Your Dead 3:39
8. Withering 3:33
9. Cold 3:22
10. There Must Be Something In the Wind 7:03