Fellsilent (also typeset as FELLSILENT) were a British heavy metal band from

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

. They possessed a technical, polyrhythmic style, similar to bands such as

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drumm ...

and

Sikth Sikth (also typeset as SikTh) are an English progressive metal band from Watford, Hertfordshire, formed in 1999. History Early days (1999–2002) Sikth formed in late 1999, but consolidated their line-up in March 2001. That line-up consisted ...

. The band also focused on some melodic elements. They released their debut album ''The Hidden Words'' in 2008 which gained immediate popularity among metal fans. Touring with other British bands such as

Enter Shikari Enter Shikari are a British Rock music, rock band formed in St Albans in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drummer Rob Rolfe. In 2003, guitarist Rory Clewlow joined the band to complete its current li ...

and Exit Ten helped them to gain further popularity. In 2008, Fellsilent signed to US record label

Sumerian Records Sumerian Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drumm ...

, Textures and the early heavy metal band

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

.FELLSILENT op Myspace Music – Gratis gestreamde MP3’s, foto’s en Videoclips
/ref> This mix of new and old was an important tool used by the band in pioneering the genre.

Reception

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' Magazine noted the band highly saying: "The six piece stir up some seriously brutal technical bludgeoning riffs interspersed with stratospheric choruses, an exciting and invigorating soundtrack to break things to".

Break-up

On 30 April 2009 Fellsilent announced that they were looking for a new guitarist to fill the position of ex band member, Acle Kahney. Garrett, Robinson and Mansbridge also left the band. Despite their Myspace stating these members were still within the band, Browne and Neema confirmed they had left, but were focusing on finishing their second album before announcing the departure of these members publicly. On 5 April 2010 the band announced on their Myspace page that "after 7 years of putting everything we had into this band, we've simply all moved on and are taking our musical creativity into new and exciting projects". Kahney and Browne expanded their then-side projects

TesseracT In geometry, a tesseract or 4-cube is a four-dimensional hypercube, analogous to a two-dimensional square and a three-dimensional cube. Just as the perimeter of the square consists of four edges and the surface of the cube consists of six ...

and

Monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

; Joe starting working as a songwriter and music producer. He played guitar and co-wrote

Zayn Malik Zain Javadd "Zayn" Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993) is an English singer-songwriter. He auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010, where he ended up being a part of five-piece b ...

's debut single "PILLOWTALK" and currently has his own studio in London. Noddy currently drums for Heart of a Coward, and also acted as a stand-in for

when they toured the United States, as Rob Rolfe was not able to get a US Visa until 2011.

Reunion rumours

A campaign was started on Facebook when the band explicitly stated on their official Facebook page that if 3000 of the band's fans wanted them to reunite they would do so. After several months and failing to reach the goal of 3000 fans, Joe Garrett posted on the band's Facebook stating that it was unanimously agreed that they would never play together as a band again.

Former members

* Neema Askari – vocals (ex-

) (2003–2010) * John Browne – guitar (

, Flux Conduct) (2004–2010) * Acle Kahney – guitar (

Tesseract In geometry, a tesseract or 4-cube is a four-dimensional hypercube, analogous to a two-dimensional square and a three-dimensional cube. Just as the perimeter of the square consists of four edges and the surface of the cube consists of six ...

) (2003–2009) * Max Robinson – bass (2003–2010) * Christopher 'Noddy' Mansbridge – drums (Heart of a Coward) (2003–2010) * Joe Garrett – vocals (2006–2010)

Discography

*''Fell Silent'' (2003) *''The Double 'A (2005) *'' The Hidden Words'' (2008)

References

{{Reflist Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 British progressive metal musical groups Sumerian Records artists Musical groups from Buckinghamshire