**1/2 Silverchair

FREAK SHOW

(Epic)

Sounding less like an early Pearl Jam cover band than they did on their double-platinum Frogstomp, Australian teen-rockers Silverchair are playing harder this time around, with more conviction and self-assurance. They've also got the experience of producer Nick Launay (PiL, Killing Joke, Posies, Gang of Four) and mixer Andy Wallace (Rage Against the Machine, Jeff Buckley, Helmet) working for them. And experimentation with violins, timpani, sitars, and vocal extremes has given their repertoire the musical diversity that Frogstomp lacked.

There's the ballad "Cemetery" for the clinically depressed, "Abuse Me" for avid radio listeners, "Pop Songs for Us Rejects" for rejects and non-rejects alike who can appreciate a decent variation on a pop theme, and "Learn To Hate" for angry, angst-ridden youth predisposed to moshing. Every time you think Silverchair are on the verge of making their own music, they hit the grunge pedal and they're sunk. But bands with less skill and momentum have been deemed "original geniuses," so for Silverchair it may just be a matter of graduating from high school.

-- Lorelei Sharkey

(Silverchair play a sold-out show at the Paradise on Thursday February 20. They also will be performing on Late Night with David Letterman this Friday, February 7.)