REVIEWS
Favorite Tracks: In Gloom, Starlighter (Echo, Utah), The Suicide Mile
Hawthorne Heights have been a band for quite some time. They could arguably be one of the staples in the emo and post-hardcore scene from the early 2000s, and are a band that still get plenty of recognition to this day. The band are finally releasing their extremely highly anticipated record, titled "Bad Frequencies," the first full-length full of new music since their 2013 release, "Zero." This is a band I've heard plenty about over the years, so I was very excited and curious going into this record, and I was very impressed by it. The opening track "In Gloom" starts out with a very soft intro, led by piano and soft guitar - a great way to start the song and the record - followed by the opening lines: “Life goes so fast. We’re all just a blurry photograph taken with shaky hands. We’ll burn out too soon, spending our last few years in gloom.” After that, the track quickly becomes a hard hitting ballad. There's just so much power and emotion throughout this track, from the vocals to the instrumentation, and the chorus is pretty catchy. This is honestly one of the best opening tracks for an album that I've heard in quite some time. "Pink Hearts" is a bit of a slower track with some pretty interesting guitar parts, especially in the beginning. The intro in "Crimson Sand" is full of energy, while the chorus consists of memorable melodies. "The Perfect Way To Fall Apart" follows suit with the pounding drums driving the track, impressive guitar parts, and the great vocal style and vocal melodies in the pre-chorus and chorus. The instrumentation and added screaming on these two tracks remind me a of the darker sound that the band created on their older work. "Just Another Ghost" is another slightly darker track, with lyrics like “I used to be stronger, the silence is longer, now I’m the bitter one" and some screaming included during the bridge. The title track, "Bad Frequencies" is one that really stood out to me. It's a softer track both vocally and instrumentally, and the laid-back tone of it is what makes it so unique. "Skylark" is a change in pace, being a bit more upbeat. As far as the vocals go, the performance and vocal style on here reminds me of some older music in the emo and post-hardcore subgenres. The softer instrumentation in the verses really lets the vocals shine. "Edge Of Town" has a pretty simple intro, but it's still memorable regardless. The song is just a lot of fun to listen to, with the catchy rhythm and interesting melodies. "Starlighter (Echo, Utah)" has some emotional verses with great vocals, and the melodies all throughout the track are fantastic. (Sidenote: This song honestly could have made a pretty great opening track as well.) One word you could use to easily describe "Push Me Away" is dark. The instrumentation is a lot darker, as well as the lyrics (“Pull the stitches from our skin, the scars show who we are” and "This lonely road that leads to home may lead us to our death" being a couple examples). The chorus on here is, once again, slightly reminiscent of their older work, with so much emotion in the vocal performance. One of the most emotional tracks on the entire record, however, is "The Suicide Mile." It's another softer track, which already made it contrast from a lot of this record, but another thing that really stuck out to me was the emotional and honest lyrics, such as “My life is spinning around in circles; it’s like I’m wasting my time with dead end streets and concrete dreams" and “The demons in my head keep me alive." The vocals on this track are amazing as well, especially the shouted vocals in the bridge. "Straight Down The Line" is a softer track with some cleaner guitar tones used during the verses, but also a hard hitting chorus with a great blend of singing and screaming and a more aggressive bridge with some impressive lead guitar parts. "Pills" already feels like a great album closer right from the beginning. The vocal style on here is great, and the echoing “woah”s in the background add more to the vocals in the verses. The chorus on here is another solid one, full of memorable melodies. Overall, I loved this record. I was very impressed by a lot of these songs and feel like this is a record I will be coming back to time and time again.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
|