The Shiver

Inside

Written by: TL on 14/10/2008 21:14:42

As the attentive reader might have noticed, when we here at Rockfreaks are forced to pick promos from a batch where we have no knowledge of any of the bands, I'm easily suckered into taking bands that feature a female vocalist for myself, likely expecting to get a free ride on some mediocre gothic Nightwish-imitation that I can review and forget everything about. In all honesty, this was also the case with the Italians of The Shiver, whom with their name and album art seemed like easy prey to my preconceptions.

Thankfully, there is very little gothic about the debut album "Inside", which I'm reviewing here. Instead, the most accurate description of the band's sound that I can come up with, is that they sound like Flyleaf playing Tool songs. The Shiver's frontwoman basically sounds exactly like Flyleaf's singer, except she's clearly not as experienced (or as well supported by expensive production tools), and the band itself really does sound like they've been listening to little else than Tool for a long while. The result isn't all too bad though, seeing how the female vocals make the end result easily distinct from Tool, as does the low key production, that unfortunately marks one of this records heaviest burdens.

Sure, few bands can try to sound like Tool and end up sounding like anything but a poor man's version of them, but The Shiver certainly aren't helped by the production of the record that, while very clear, still manages to sound little better than the record you once made with the band you had in music class in high school. Singer Faith tries her best to lift things out of the average with her passionate delivery, but even that seems a bit flat when I can think of a number of non-professional girls I know who can do as good a job (if not better).

In the end, I'm not going to blame The Shiver for trying. They've got the right idea, and listening to their CD is an overall enjoyable pastime, but in order to pull off a sound as thick as the one they're aiming for, they're going to need to get a bit more professional, and even more importantly, they're going to have to invest in better production. Obviously, a bit more originality and ambition in the songwriting wouldn't be a bad idea either, seeing that no track on "Inside" stand out much from the others, but in any case, if the band gets any of these little problems fixed on their next release, they'll easily score a higher mark.

Download: Symbiosis, Disappearance
For The Fans Of: Flyleaf, Tool,
Listen: myspace.com/theshiverband

Release Date 27.09.2008
UK Division Records

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