By Adam Bowman

With a past history not too different from U2's, the five men of Glassjaw come to us now with a blend of alternative rock and thrash metal not found since the days of Silverchair's "Frogstomp".

While "Everything You Wanted To Know About Silence" is definitely not the easiest album to listen to, the lyrics that vocalist Daryl Palumbo sing/scream being the catalyst to this movement, it does offer moments of rock brilliance.

"Siberian Kiss", while starting off with your classic mosh pit brew, soon opens up to an extremely Radiohead-esque chorus. Definitely a nice touch. Meanwhile, the mystery that is the beginning of "When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros" quickly breaks into what seems to be Glassjaw's premiere, Palumbo's vocals screeching across a well-oiled music machine, supplied by guitarists Todd Weinstock and Justin Beck, bassist Manuel Ragoonan Carrero (who now holds the crown of coolest name I've ever typed), and drummer Sammy Siegler.

There's a strong hint of The Smashing Pumpkins in these songs, which is easy to spot in many of the choruses. Just listen to "The Everlasting Gaze" and you'll see what I mean. But alas, all things somewhat peaceful must come to an end.

The introduction of "Lovebites And Razorlines" is enough to wake, and then re-kill the dead. Like a schizophrenic boyfriend, there are your peaceful, head bobbing moments, only to be counteracted by moments of complete frenzy. This is definitely a trend the band likes to follow, and they do it again in "Majour."

Some moments lean to one of the two extremes. "Babe", along with "Hurting And Shoving" all but reeks of a beating vibe and a painful experience to live through. On the other hand, you have what is arguably the best song on the album, "Her Middle Name Was Boom". For any 120 Minutes fan, you can just see the video for this being played every Sunday night for months on end. And it's so well done, that dare I say....TRL???

Yeah, right. Like they'd let themselves get away with a slow song. The last minute of "...Boom" will give you an ample chance to break many things, only to soothe you back down. At this point, you're begging to just scream at them, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!!!!" You'll soon have your chance in "Babe", trust me.

The frantic variety that Glassjaw employs is best exemplified in the title track "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence". Constantly screaming "This is what it's like to be alone." at the end alerts you front and center, they're speaking from the soul, no matter how insane the music is.

Bottom line, the main detriment to Glassjaw is their constant shifting. Moving from one extreme to another is good, but doing it in the same song is a feat not easily done well. The flashes of brilliance that appear in a majority of the songs thoroughly hint of astounding promise from the five guys of Glassjaw. A bit more training, and they're bound to be champions.

By the way, in true rock fashion, there is a hidden track. Two words: 'Radiohead' and 'brilliance'