WHAT DO YOU THINK OF FELLSILENT?

There are a LOT of Meshuggah rip-off bands these days. Tons of ’em. But accusing a band of sounding like Meshuggah is a pretty damn fine compliment, and if you asked the lads in Fellsilent what they thought of this comparison they’d likely have an answer similar to Airbourne’s Joel O’Keefe when we asked him about being constantly compared to AC/DC:

It doesn’t matter who you are, you are going to get compared to somebody. To be compared to the best rock and roll band in the business, who are still going today and are about to release another album, there is no higher compliment. I could list a thousand bands that I would not want to be compared to. There are a handful that any band does [want to be compared to]. If you get compared to a band like AC/DC or Motorhead or Rose Tattoo or Iron Maiden or Metallica, you can’t be doing anything wrong because that’s real rock and roll.

Meshuggah certainly don’t have the legacy of AC/DC but in certain circles they’re just as revered. So, that brings us to Fellsilent, the latest in a large stable of excellent new bands signed to Sumerian Records (one band excepted).

They sound like Meshuggah. A LOT like Meshuggah, but with some occasional melodic / God Forbid-like parts sprinkled in here and there for a little variety. They’re certainly quite competently skilled musicians and what I’m listening to on their MySpace page right now sounds damn good. Because, ya know, Meshuggah does it damn well too. So do Fellsilent get a hall pass because they so expertly emulate a band so revered, or does this kind of emulation get a “fail” no matter who it is simply because it isn’t original? You tell us.

-VN