Feeder
Silent Cry

"Silent Cry": a title that evokes something terrible, yet intimate and liberating, a consequence of an event that leads to despair, but so personal that one does not want to share it openly with the world.

It's from this particularly fascinating and open-to-multiple-interpretations title that we begin to analyze the new studio effort by Feeder, following "Pushing The Senses," which three years ago cemented their status (at least across the Channel); "Silent Cry" is a heralded return to rock, after a more composed and reflective turn that began with that emotional semi-masterpiece known as "Comfort In Sound". Grant Nicholas and company want to prove they can still wield guitars, and they forego "Feeling A Moment" and "Just The Way I'm Feeling" to embrace a sharp and electric musical language, largely abandoned after the punk rock craze of the celebrated "Echo Park" (here worthily resurrected by a quick shot like "Miss You", which brings a tear to the eye, thinking of the gone "Seven Days In The Sun").

Everything starts off grandly, with a single like "We Are The People" that recaptures the epic quality of the less pretentious and more moving U2, combining it with lyrics in which Nicholas questions how much more we will destroy of the little good we have left ("Slipping away/Losing all sense of reality/Sacrifice, love and democracy/We burn it all down") and a melodic sensibility typical of Feeder's latest works; with the addition of a solid and dense wall of electric guitars and a couple of falsetto choruses as ornament, the job is done. The Welsh leader clarifies: "It's a song about change and harmony for the world we live in. It's like a call to arms, but in a positive and non-violent sense."

"Silent Cry" is therefore a work that wisely fuses a primarily rock framework, characteristic of the band's earliest works, with the maturity in crafting melodically tasteful and practically perfect structures, a skill highlighted in the more recent studio releases; all without sacrificing emotion, using deep and reflective lyrics expertly paired with the band's perfectly matched instrumental plots. The title track, in this sense, is a pop rock snapshot destined to enter the classics of Nicholas and company, and in absolute terms, every piece of this new work is enriched by absolutely unique details that distinctly characterize each track; from the pleasing choruses of "8:18" to the strings of "Who's The Enemy" (complete with a pseudo-metal interlude - ! -), from the intimacy of "Heads Held High" to the usual "tribute" to the Foo Fighters with "Guided By A Voice", saving the album's authentic masterpiece for the finale, opting for a "Sonorous" that blends hard rock, post-grunge, and distant prog echoes in a pot that approaches certain distinctly heavy episodes of Matthew Bellamy's Muse.

The production entrusted to Grant himself (alongside companions Taka Hirose and Mark Richardson) is certainly the decisive move that allowed the creation of such a beautiful album, rich in captivating melodies and arrangements that truly leave a mark, without overdoing it (even though the guys have rarely overdone it in the past).

It's currently difficult to find a better proposal than Feeder in the realm of melodic rock. The best work by the Welsh, after the incomparable "Comfort In Sound".

Key tracks: "Itsumo", "Silent Cry", "Sonorous"