The twentieth anniversary of the fifth studio album by Blindside is coming up this weekend, so it’s time to revisit The Great Depression. The album was largely influenced by a trip to Africa that their lead singer, Christian Lindskog, which left the singer “unsettled” by his experience and the things he saw vastly influenced the direction of the record. The LP also found Blindside going with an independent label, after the moderate commercial success of Silence and About a Burning Fire, and deciding to work with a different producer as well in Lasse Mårtén. While I felt the pairing of the previous two records with veteran producer, Howard Benson, was a match made in music heaven for Blindside, The Great Depression is truly an “artist’s record” in that the band was beginning to see the world through a much different lens. The set would spawn two singles in “Fell In Love With The Game” and the reflective “When I Remember,” but had trouble gaining traction commercially. The album is still adored by many Blindside fans to this day, and it’s easy to see why after a fresh listen. The Great Depression marked a significant shift in Blindside’s artistic direction, and left hints as to where they would take their sound on subsequent releases.

Usually you can point to certain moments in time when your taste in music changes to broader categories. For me, it came in the form of Blindside and their aggressive, yet melodic, third studio album Silence produced by veteran hit-maker Howard Benson (Hoobastank, Papa Roach). For quite a long time in high school, and even parts of the beginning of college, I was stuck in an Alt Rock and pop-punk phase that was tough to break free from for other genres of music. Enter Blindside and their hard-nosed guitar approach, semi-screamed vocals paired with melodic breakdowns, and my music world was turned upside down. Going down the rabbit hole of post-hardcore music led to my discovery of bands like Underoath and Thursday, and prepared me to be more open to different stylistic choices in our scene’s wide umbrella of artists that would appear on a Warped Tour lineup.

Silence is anything but a silent-sounding record. It’s aggressive, pulsating, and the tones of the guitars, bass, drums, and searing vocals made for a dynamic and sonically interesting band in Blindside. Whereas their previous effort A Thought Crushed My Mind left little room for melodic breakdowns, Silence had just the right combination of punishing guitars and screamed vocals mixed with a more radio-ready sound. The record would end up peaking at #83 on the Billboard 200.