release date: Oct. 2, 2015
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]
producer: Michael Patterson, Nicolas Jodoin, Saybia
label: Columbia Records - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 2. "No Sound From the Outside" - 3. "Black Hole" - 4. "Hollow Is Your Promise" - 5. "One Minute Man" - 7. "It's About Time" - 8. "Down" - 11. "I'm Still Waiting"
4th studio album by Saybia released more than eight years since the predecessor Eyes on the Highway (Aug. 2007) and following the start of a succesful solo career of lead vocalist and songwriter Søren Huss. After the band's hiatus from late 2007 to Jul. 2010, the band played comeback concerts in the Summer of 2010 in the Netherlands, but it wasn't until 2014 that they announced a new album to be released early 2015. During the recording sessions, founding member, lead guitarist Sebastian Sandstrøm decided to call it a day and he was subsequently replaced by Kasper Rasmussen, which may explain the delay of the release.
I believe that many thought Saybia had come to an end after the 2007 album - and especially after Huss proved to experience major success as solo artist, and perhaps also after what some saw as an artistic slacken in the output from Saybia. Allegedly, Huss has stated that the band members didn't want to see their 2007 album as their final statement, which called for at least another attempt.
Stylistically, No Sound From the Outside still sounds very much like Saybia, but it appears as the band's most electrified studio release to date. Where the two predecessors have much in common, this one sticks out with a bolder alt. rock sound and style, which for a start makes a positive impression.
Musically, it may be in short of hit-material, although it succeeds by being no less than one of the band's most cohesive studio albums. It (obviously) still contains ballads, but they are shaped to a new formative sound and they don't point in various directions, and that's the album's biggest asset. Also, this is the first time you cannot argue that they sound like this or that - contemplating they copy this or that - yes, it's contemporary alt rock with various stylistic traits. Some compositions are shaped with inspiration from post-punk, others have progressive rock elements, and some reflect a more general soft rock approach, but altogether, they all sound like stemming from the same band just using whatever they find natural to colour its own original blend. At bottom line, I find they just sound as Saybia, which is a bit of an accomplishment.
The album didn't enter or peak at the top of charts but it reached the position as number #7 on the national albums chart list. Commercially, it may not be the great come-back album they sat out for, but musically, I find simply find it their second-best of all their albums, and who knows, perhaps in a few years, we'll all look back at this very album with a common confidence and state that it's actually their finest ever. It's a fine grower, and it contains several fine compositions.
Highly recommended.
[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6 stars ]
