by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Silverchair were slaves to their influences on their debut Frogstomp, but on their second album Freak Show, they're beginning to show signs of developing their own style. While they may still concentrate too heavily on Pearl Jam and Nirvana, they're beginning to fuse the elements together in a more interesting way and are writing stronger hooks. Freak Show still has its share of mediocre moments, and Daniel Johns should try to sing instead of scream, but the album shows potential that Frogstomp never did.