Second EP by Croydon rockers
"Blueprints" is the second EP created by melodic rock band, Silent Disguise. The Croydon based band consists of Alex Marshall (Vocals); Carl 'CJ' Johnston (Guitar); Oli Ellis (Guitar); Mike Watson (Bass) and Rob Ogilvie (Drums).
The EP kicks off with ‘Save You’ providing a solid rock groove from the onset. The song is filled with great guitar riffs and catchy melodic singing. There are some great guitar riffs and solid drumming, but this is disappointingly easy listening pop rock. This is more for fans of bands like Bullet for my Valentine or even McFly or similar.
The second track is the title track, ‘Blueprints’ and is a slower ballad and a duet with a female guest vocalist. This may be a silent disguise for something more metal, but it is not really my cup of tea.
‘Only by the Night’ again starts very promising. There is more double peddling and chugging guitars, but the vocals are still too clean in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, the teenage girls will love these guys, but as we get further into the song we are introduced to another side of Alex’s vocal abilities when it develops into some awesome growling, but this will chase the pop rock fans away. The growling section of the song is awesome and suits the music better than the sweet melodic singing.
The final track ’20 Stories’ ventures into the metal genre again and I felt that it was almost like Killswitch Engage at times, but then falls back into the easy listening metal groove sounding more like BFMV. Just to add to the confusion, the song ends with a lovely bit of doom.
At times Silent Disguise provides the listener with touches of melodic death metal/metalcore and can almost be compared with the like of the original Killswitch Engage, but the majority of the songs on the "Blueprints" EP is too melodic and clean for my liking.
I feel that the band is trying to combine two sounds that could alienate fans being from the two different rock/metal spectrums. The "Blueprints" EP could almost be split into two parts with the first part being more pop rock and the second part having more metal influences. Silent Disguise should decide which side of the divide they want to be. Do they see themselves playing Bloodstock or V-Festival?
Obviously I would like to see Silent Disguise develop into an awesome metal band. Alex really has the ability and can produce some awesome growls. He should focus on developing his voice, making it stronger and also focus on his growls. They should drop the clean, easy listening pop rock sound unless they want to try to join the millions and play MTV pop rock.