End of Silence — Red

Red's End of Silence came out on Essential and Sony BMG on 6 June 2006. It's eleven tracks and runs about forty-six minutes fifty-two seconds. The band recorded it at Dark Horse Studios and Paragon Studios in Franklin, Tennessee, and at Little Big Sound in Nashville. Rob Graves produced it, Ben Grosse mixed it and Ted Jensen mastered it. Jason McArthur was executive producer, and Heather Hetzler handled A&R.

Michael Barnes sang lead and played piano, Jasen Rauch played lead guitar, Anthony Armstrong played rhythm guitar and sang backing vocals, and Randy Armstrong played bass, sang backing vocals and added piano. Hayden Lamb is credited on drums, but he doesn't actually play on the album. Andrew Hendrix drummed on everything except Pieces, and Steve Brewster played on that one. Bernie Herms arranged the strings for a group of Nashville players. Stephanie McBrayer and Tim Parker did the art direction and Kristin Barlowe took the photos.

This was Red's debut album. The singles were Breathe Into Me, Break Me Down, Let Go, Lost, a double single of Hide and Pieces, and Already Over. It peaked at No. 194 on the Billboard 200. It won Rock Album of the Year at the 38th GMA Dove Awards and was nominated for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album at the 49th Grammys. The album went gold with the RIAA, and so did Breathe Into Me as a single. It's the only Red album with Hayden Lamb credited. It's Christian alternative metal with nu metal and post-grunge mixed in, and it sits on the metal shelf here. I'm giving it an 8/10.

What you're hearing

Intro (End of Silence) opens with a short build before the silence breaks. Breathe Into Me is the first of the videos. Rauch has said it's about falling, reaching the end of your rope and realising you need God. Let Go keeps the pressure on. Already Over turns up twice in the videos, once as the Epic Version and again later as the album cut. Lost sits in the middle of the record. Pieces is the honest ballad JFH singled out as a strength, and that's Brewster on drums. Break Me Down is another single with some bite. Wasting Time and Gave It All Away carry the middle stretch without going limp. Hide is the late turn. Already Over, Pt. 2 closes with the string arrangement DiBiase loved, and Herms and the Nashville players still sound great on the fade.

John DiBiase reviewed it for Jesus Freak Hideout on 6 June 2006 and gave it three out of five. He heard a powerful, aggressive debut that was still distractingly unoriginal next to Linkin Park and Evanescence, but he said its passion, sincerity and themes of Christian struggle redeemed it. He called Pieces an honest ballad and a strength and praised the strings on Already Over Pt. 2. He wrote that the record "oozes talent and promise despite its formula" and that while it "isn't all that it could be, it still isn't bad for what it is." That adds up to a middling grade with room to grow. Ewan Jones at Cross Rhythms reviewed it on 30 September 2006 and noted it was a US Christian radio hit. He found the lyrics conventional and sometimes clichéd, full of fading, brokenness, bleeding and blindness, but genuine, because they came from real experience of pain and addiction. He praised the fantastic string arrangements, the imaginative melodies and the aggressive, solid production, and said the Pennsylvania band stood out from the stylised US nu-metal crowd. JoshIVM at Indie Vision Music was positive in August 2006, praising how well it holds up on repeat and calling it a great debut.

How it was made

The band worked in two places, at Dark Horse and Paragon in Franklin and at Little Big Sound in Nashville. Graves produced, Grosse mixed and Jensen mastered, with McArthur as executive producer and Hetzler on A&R for Essential and Sony BMG. Barnes sang and played piano, Rauch and the Armstrong brothers covered guitars and bass, and Lamb is credited on drums even though Hendrix and Brewster played the sessions. The Herms strings aren't just decoration. They carry the closer, and they give the whole album a texture that stops it sounding like a straight nu-metal copy. McBrayer and Parker's art direction and Barlowe's photos have that mid-2000s Christian rock look you'd expect from Essential. I'm reviewing the original eleven-song debut here, not the later deluxe DVD or the tenth-anniversary edition.

Where the score lands

It gets an eight because the whole package holds together. It was made in Franklin and Nashville with Graves producing, Grosse mixing and Jensen mastering. It's a debut that reached No. 194 on the Billboard 200, won the Dove for Rock Album of the Year, got a Grammy nomination and went gold, with Breathe Into Me going gold too. DiBiase heard talent and promise and Jones praised the strings and the production, though both flagged that it sounds a lot like Linkin Park and Evanescence and that the lyrics lean on clichés. It's not a ten, because those complaints are fair. It's not a seven either. The videos, the Dove, the Grammy nod, the gold records and the fact that this is the album that defined mid-2000s Red push it up to eight.

Watch

The official video for Breathe Into Me comes first, followed by the Epic Version of Already Over. After that come the album versions of Breathe Into Me, Let Go, Already Over, Pieces and Break Me Down. Songs from later albums and anniversary extras aren't here.

Where this album sits on Loud Faith

Mid-2000s Christian alternative metal on Essential could fill a room. It meant studios in Franklin and Nashville, youth-group car parks, Christian radio, a Dove and a Grammy nomination, and a debut single that went gold. End of Silence is Red's first studio album. DiBiase heard talent and promise, Jones heard strings and production that lift it, and Breathe Into Me is still the one to hear first.