Though Language of Silence, Numb"s sixth full-length, marks the band"s 10th year, it"s been a decade spent in relative obscurity, especially in light of the fact that Numb hail from Vancouver, Canada, home to both Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy--escaping the long shadows cast by those industrial superheroes must be a bit like being the other playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon. All that aside, Numb play an extremely muscular, testosterone-fueled brand of straight-ahead industrial dance music. Pounding rhythms compete with dark synth sounds and monstrous vocals, all of which adhere to the tried-and-true industrial formula. The only respite are the occasional ambient instrumental tracks ("Illumination Rounds," "Benthos"), which possess an old-school charm. As on 1997"s Blood Meridian, Numb abandon their earlier guitar sound, favoring a synth-only approach. It"s definitely an improvement, but Don Gordon"s consistently shouted vocals fail to generate any true intensity, making Language of Silence sound more like Language of Unfocused Anger. --Steve Landau