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Rating:
Casey Calvert, the screamer of Hawthorne Heights, was found dead late last year on the band's tour bus. Some say it was a drug overdose that cut him down, others a lethal combination of multiple medications taken without much thought to the consequences.
Most of those who will read this review will start here with a loud "who cares!", while fans of the group will already sense that the Ohio band will never be the same after this departure.
In fact, HH have always based much of their appeal on the alternation, in the voice, between a clean, limpid, and crystalline (that of JT Woodruff) and the shouted anger in perfect screamo style of the aforementioned singer-guitarist. With this amalgam, they have managed over time to earn a good reputation among fans of the more "collegiate" emo (pardon the adjective), the kind often heard in American films set among teenagers, that mix of love-death-hate-loneliness post/pre adolescence themes that are universally relatable. The new album, this "Fragile Future", presents itself to the public as our friends' attempt to recover after a hard blow, and at the same time tries to propose itself as the definitive turning point of the band: have our friends managed to convince everyone, fans and opponents? Partly.
The album is more mature, without a doubt, than the previous ones. The absence of the scream makes it similar to other more recent emo productions, but the product is well-made: it sounds good, it's easy to listen to (perhaps too easily), it leaves some emotion on the skin after several listens, but above all, and I repeat, finally, mature.
Themes such as love and the suffering for failed relationships are still there, obviously, but alongside them are also different themes, perhaps dealt with too lightly, but still treated in a sensitive and effective way. So here "The Business Of Paper Stars" takes a tortuous path such as criticism of the showbiz; here "Four Become One" and "Disaster" deal with Casey's death. The first one especially stands as a requiem and at the same time a dedication full of good memories towards the singer, bringing up memories evoked in a simple and direct text but for this very reason strong and intense. In the midst of all this, pieces of varying quality, more or less energetic, ballads (sometimes tear-jerking) and anthems full of strength.
The worthy pieces are slightly more than half of the total tracks on the album. The already mentioned first track, "Rescue Me" (to be honest a bit cliché but still pleasant), the beautiful "Sugar In The Engine" (perhaps my favorite piece of the whole album, beautiful, full-bodied, and intense), "321", certainly the most adrenaline-pumping piece of the lot, the two already mentioned ballads dedicated to Casey, and the penultimate "Corpse Of Corpses".
Ultimately, I find this "Fragile Future" to be a decent step forward for the band, finally matured, at least humanly. Musically, we are more or less on the usual terrain so far explored by the group, but after all, we are talking about a genre now too wrapped in on itself and, except for rare cases, destined to repeat itself. That does not take away that Hawthorne's latest effort gets more than a pass, let's say a 7 (3.5 in debaser jargon), an encouragement to continue on this path.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
06 Desperation (03:27)
In my arms you lie,
You're sleeping and you're still,
Im wide awake because i cant take it
and this is how i feel
Set my mind at ease
I'm worried and upset
When my front door isn't home anymore
I'll be living with regret
So listen up and just let the music play
If you listen hard enough you can hear me say.
This is the sound of desperation
This is the sound of me wearing down(x2)
You've heard it all before, and now you'll hear it all again,
I never said I would rather be dead, but I've thought about the end
Soon as its starting over and over the nights get planned to end.. the only way i can get through the day is to try to make amends
So listen up and just let the music play
If you listen hard enough you can hear me say!
This is the sound of desperation
This is the sound of me wearing down(x2)
(WEARING DOWN)(x2)
(This is the sound...)
So listen up and just let the music play
If you listen hard enough you can hear me say!!!
This is the sound of desperation
This is the sound of me wearing down(x3)
09 Disaster (03:00)
How should I say,
That I never wanted anything to change
If I rearrange the pieces of broken down faith.
Do you believe in me?
Because I'm not sure
I believe in anything ...anymore
Pick up the pieces and
Make me understand
Why we can't move any faster?
Losing all demand,
I've broken all my plans
This year was a disaster
What should I do?
When I never thought anything would come true
The solution for the broken down abuse (abuse)
I'm waiting for the fading floor
To let me fall on through
I'm getting closer
To letting go, letting go of you
Pick up the pieces and
Make me understand
Why we can't move any faster?
Losing all demand,
I've broken all my plans
This year was a disaster
What you don't know
(I walked on the ledge)
Will only make this worse
What you don't know
(I saw the edge of my future)
Will only make this worse
What you don't know
(Being held back by the past)
Will only make this worse
What you don't know
Will only make this worse
Pick up the pieces and
Make me understand
Why we can't move any faster?
Losing all demand,
I've broken all my plans
This year was a disaster
Pick up the pieces and
Make me understand
Why we can't move any faster?
Losing all demand,
I've broken all my plans
This year was a disaster
11 Corps of Corpses (03:12)
And all of the corpses
Walk step by step
To the rhythm of their once beating hearts
Over and over they march
On and on to the same old song
Trying to find something worth living for
No more ghosts or memories to hold me back
A fresh start is all I have ever asked
I watch my body slowly turn from blue to black
And on, and on, and on
Sometimes it hurts the most to be who you are
You can change mind, you can't change your heart
To find the end you gotta know where to start
And on, and on, and on
You said she is so evil, but
She looks like heaven to me
I'd follow her to hell and back again
I swear I'd sign my name in blood
It dripped down from my veins
I swore I'd never tell
I know where to go,
A sky where stars align
Point the blame, clear your name, or just kill the time
My dreams slowly turn
they turn to black and white
They die, they die, they die!
You said she is so evil, but
She looks like heaven to me
I'd follow her to hell and back again
I swear I'd sign my name in blood
It dripped down from my veins
I swore I'd never tell
And on, and on.....
You said she is so evil, but
She looks like heaven to me
I'd follow her to hell and back again
I swear I'd sign my name in blood
It dripped down from my veins
I swore I'd never tell
12 Come Back Home (reprised) (04:11)
Come back home
You're all alone
Everyone is waiting for
The words to say
To make you stay
To keep you in their arms
Hold still so I can feel
The words that hurt that hit the kills
The latest fight that last some nights
Turn off the light and leave right now
I know, I know
I'm too slow to catch you here
I know, that she knows
She's running far, far from me
Come back home
Pick up the phone
Or just call my name out loud
So I can hear, so loud and clear
Our time is running, running out
I know, I know
I'm too slow to catch you here
I know, that she knows
She's running far, far from me
Slow down, oh no
So I can catch you now
Slow down, oh no
So we can work this out
I'm growing tired
Let's start a fire
And then we'll fall asleep
You and me, ohhhh
[X2]
You and me, ohhhh
Forget what you're not, not what you learned
I know where you are, I know you got burn
I know you got burn
I know, I know
I'm too slow to catch you here
I know, that she knows
She's running far, far from me
Slow down, oh no
So I can catch you now
Slow down, oh no
So we can work this out
I know it seems like we're never coming back
I know it feels like we're never coming back
You tried your best and you know it wouldn't last
I know it feels like we're never coming back
[X3]
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