About a Burning Fire — Blindside

About a Burning Fire is Blindside's fourth studio album, released by Elektra and P.O.D.'s 3 Points imprint on February 24, 2004. It's twelve songs in just under forty-five minutes, produced again by Howard Benson, and it's the record where the Swedish band went all in on big melodies without letting go of the screams. We give it a 7/10.

How it came together

Blindside formed in the southern suburbs of Stockholm in 1994, first as Underfree, and took the Blindside name in 1996. Singer Christian Lindskog, guitarist Simon Grenehed, bassist Tomas Näslund and drummer Marcus Dahlström had come up through Tooth & Nail and Solid State before P.O.D. got behind them and brought them to Elektra. Their major-label debut, Silence, reached No. 83 on the Billboard 200 in 2002.

For the follow-up they went back to Benson. The album was recorded at Bay 7 Studios in Valley Village and Sparky Dark Studios in Calabasas, California, with extra recording at Decibel Stockholm Studios back home. Mike Plotnikoff recorded it, Chris Lord-Alge mixed it and Tom Baker mastered it.

The guest list is the first sign this isn't a straight sequel. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins plays guitar on "Hooray, It's L.A." Emma Härdelin of the Swedish folk band Garmarna sings on "Shekina." There's cello and violin on "Shekina" and "Roads," a trumpet solo from Jon Rekdal on "Roads," and Benson himself plays a Vox Continental organ on "Swallow."

What it sounds like

The opener, "Eye of the Storm," tells you where things are headed. John DiBiase of Jesus Freak Hideout called it "aggressive yet toned-down," and said the band had "taken another step back from the metal edge of their hardcore sound, trading the ferocious guitar riffs for more melodic compositions." He also told older fans not to worry, because Lindskog still makes "a fair usage" of his "signature throat-shredding screams mixed with his passionate singing style."

"All of Us" was the lead single, and it's the song most people remember. DiBiase called it "the radio-friendly gem" that "redeems the first half of the record." Johnny Loftus of AllMusic said nothing really sticks until it arrives, and called it "a convincing cross of creeping Radiohead atmosphere and Incubus anthem-making." The band made a video for it, and it's the one to start with.

"Swallow" is the short, punchy one at two minutes and twenty-five seconds. Jasamine White-Gluz of Exclaim! called it "a strange punky number." It also ended up on the soundtrack for the video game Need for Speed: Underground, which put Blindside in front of a lot of gamers.

Then there's "Shekina," the song every reviewer talked about. It opens with Härdelin's high wail before Lindskog comes in softly over strings. DiBiase called it "the album's ugly duckling" and admitted the female vocals sometimes "wander into the realm of irritating," but said the band pulled it off well enough that "you have to at least appreciate the effort." Loftus called it "an album standout," then added the catch: "nothing else on Burning Fire sounds remotely like it."

The back half has its own surprises. D.X. Ferris of Cleveland Scene picked out "Roads," with its "creeping acoustic guitar hook and downbeat trumpet solo," and noticed that "Where the Sun Never Dies" "collapses abruptly, exposing a fading dance beat." White-Gluz heard fellow Swedes Refused in that song and wished the band had tried more of it. DiBiase's highlights from the closing stretch were "After You're Gone," "Where the Sun Never Dies" and "the infectious title track."

The faith in it

Blindside were a Christian band, but they didn't preach on this album. The title "Shekina" points to the Hebrew idea of the dwelling presence of God's glory, and it's the most openly spiritual moment here. Loftus read "After You're Gone" as Lindskog "speaking to the Man Upstairs," pointing out how the lyric capitalizes the person he's singing to.

Ferris quoted one of the clearest lines, "We've been trying too long / To cover up His fingerprints / From a distant past," and said even the most direct testimonies were tucked away in general language. That's fair, and it's also the point. This is a record about searching and holding on, with God in the background rather than on a banner.

There was one small question. In a note added to his review, DiBiase said the CD booklet prints the line "As it's a damned cold night now" at the end of "Hooray, It's L.A." He reported that the band meant it in the biblical sense of "condemned," and he accepted that.

What the critics said

Reviews were mixed to warm. Jesus Freak Hideout gave it four stars out of five. DiBiase called it "a solid effort, but maybe not quite as good as their last venture," and still said it "clearly stands out among the rest." At AllMusic, Loftus called the band "a completely believable, yet ultimately unremarkable alternative metal combo," though he also said it was "a stronger album than Silence."

Not everyone came around. Aaron Ladage of the Iowa State Daily called it "an uninteresting, run-of-the-mill hard rock album," though even he called "Shekina" "a beautiful escape." White-Gluz landed in the middle. She called it "strong," but said it "could be made so much stronger" with fewer "P.O.D-esque group shouts" and more experiments.

Where it falls short

The complaint that keeps coming up is formula. Loftus said most of the record relies "solidly on formula, alternating between brooding interludes and loud moments." He's right. Outside "All of Us," "Shekina," "Roads" and the closing title track, several songs follow the same quiet-loud pattern and blur together. Corgan's guest spot doesn't help much either. DiBiase called it "almost completely unnoticeable."

How it did

About a Burning Fire debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 in the week of March 13, 2004, selling about 30,000 copies in its first week, according to Billboard. It was the best chart showing of Blindside's career. It spent four weeks on the chart.

It was also the end of their major-label run. When Warner Music folded Elektra into Atlantic, Blindside left the label and went independent for The Great Depression in 2005.

Our verdict

About a Burning Fire is a band stretching itself on a big budget and mostly getting away with it. The radio songs are strong, "Shekina" and "Roads" are the bravest songs they'd made so far, and Lindskog's mix of screams and singing still sounds like nobody else. It sags in the middle, and the formula shows. But it's the sound of Blindside at their commercial peak, still making odd choices.

7/10

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