Published on Oct 5, 1997
These days, it takes a lot of guts to be a heavy metal band. The
genre which was quite popular in the early- to mid-’80s has fallen
out of favor with mainstream radio, and maintains a core base of
fans.
But the day that metal makes its comeback (as it eventually
will, as all forms of music do), then count The Quiet Room as a
serious contender for the leader of the pack. Their third release
Introspect (which was re-released by Metal Blade in 1998 –
ed.) is a pleasant mixture of crunching bar chords and softer,
melodic moments, and was a pleasant surprise when it arrived at the
doors of the Pierce Memorial Archives (now serving espresso latte
in the folk music area).
This Colorado-based six-piece has a sound which owes a lot to
fellow metal band Queensryche – in fact, seeing how the previous
albums of the latter band tanked, one could say that The Quiet Room
has beaten Queensryche at its own game. Lead singer Chadd Castor
has a set of pipes similar to Geoff Tate’s, though he doesn’t
resort to the high-pitched wails, and instead concentrates on
delivering a powerful vocal. Smart move.
The two-guitar attack of George Glasco and Jason Boudreau are a
big key to what separates The Quiet Room from other axe-slinging
bands. The fact that they are more interested in crafting a melodic
groove for a solo rather than seeing how many notes they can play
in a second is impressive. Rounding out the band’s sound are
keyboardist Jeff Janeczko (who also provides a unique touch to the
sound), bassist Josh Luebbers and drummer Mike Rice.
Introspect kicks off strongly with “A Different Scene,”
which packs a powerful punch without being too flashy. Keeping the
listener on their toes, The Quiet Room often changes the time
signature of the song – and though it takes a few listens to follow
the changes, the complications of the song are what make it stand
out. It is also here that one appreciates the fact that Glasco and
Boudreau aren’t mile-a-minute guitarists. Other songs like “Grudge”
and “Second Time Around” emphasize the relationship to Queensryche,
both in vocals and in the use of Janeczko’s synthesizer work.
It is the second half of
Introspect that makes it stand out for me. From the
acoustic-based “Holding On,” the band proves they can be powerful
without pushing the volume into the range of deafness. And just as
they prove the breadth of their work, Castor steps aside to let the
band show off their instrumental chops; “Extramental” is a killer
work. The album closes with the softer bridge “Suspended Seconds,”
which eases into “Undetermined,” a number which features The Quiet
Room putting everything they have into crafting a all-encompassing
metal song. Fortunately for all of us, they pull it off with flying
colors.
But for all the strengths The Quiet Room has, there are two
minor weaknesses heard on
Introspect. For the first half of the album, all the songs
seem to be in exactly the same vein – in turn, they all sound the
same. I had a hard time differentiating many of the tracks, and had
to listen to the album about five times before I could separate
tracks like “Altered Past” from “Grudge.” Second, from time to
time, the lyrics tend to dip into the silly range; thankfully,
there aren’t many lines such as “Scraping you off the concrete with
a shovel / Would make my day” on this one.
For such a young band, The Quiet Room shows a lot of musical
maturity; if the mass market ever embraces metal in any way again,
it would be a crime if this band weren’t given a chance to hit the
big time.
Introspect shows a few areas that need an extra coat of
paint, but they’re not big enough areas to take away from the
overall intensity of the album. This is a band from whom I think
we’ll be hearing a lot more from in upcoming years.