•
Rating:
THE REVIEW
Three guitars, a bass, a drum set, and a hint of pandering (no, the rhyme isn’t intentional). These are Hawthorne Heights, 5 guys from Dayton, Ohio, who with a debut CD composed of 11 tracks manage to enter the emocore world without problems, carving out a good number of fans worldwide. Their secret? Simple, it’s screamo pop, you get it, right? The genre that has been so trendy in recent years.
I certainly don’t want to criticize this band which, as damn catchy as it may be, makes it clear to everyone that HH are no less than their various colleagues Silverstein, Senses Fail, Taking Back Sunday, and many others. Despite, as I’ve already mentioned, the goal of this album being to sell, Hawthorne Heights are good musicians who, with an exceptional screamer, bring to life an emo/rock work that is quite good, thanks largely to the guitars, which stand a head above the bass and drums and are enjoyable and not boring.
The first track is "Life On Standby", a piece characterized by alternating screams and melodic and almost sad parts, in short, a good start; from the second track, in my opinion, comes the best piece of the album, "Niki FM", a song with a sad lyric that highlights all the band members equally. Kudos here to singer JT WoodRuff, who in the melodic parts shows he knows what he’s doing and has a good voice, excellent guitars, and drums. The tracks flow pleasantly apart from a few rare instances ("Blue Burns Orange") until reaching the eighth song, "Ohio Is For Lovers", which you probably know as it is one of the most famous and beautiful songs in the emocore field. The track starts on low tones with just the singer and a guitar, then explodes with three guitars, bass, drums, and the guitarist’s screams (again, I like them a lot), an exciting song that only has the flaw of getting tiresome after several listens.
A good record overall, with its pros and cons, but absolutely in my opinion an exciting and melodic album with the only flaw (as I’ve already read in a review here and agree) of being repetitive from track to track. If these five guys had been more original, they probably would have become the leading figures of emocore on a global level. Unfortunately, they lack that and will always remain a good band, yes, but nothing more.
Loading comments slowly
Summary by Bot
Hawthorne Heights delivers a catchy and melodic emocore debut with 'The Silence In Black And White,' driven by strong guitars and vocal performance. The album features standout tracks like 'Niki FM' and the iconic 'Ohio Is For Lovers,' though it suffers from some repetitiveness. While the band excels in musicianship, they fall short of originality that could have elevated them to top-tier status within the genre. Overall, it’s an exciting and solid record for fans of emocore.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Hawthorne Heights
Hawthorne Heights are an American emo/post-hardcore band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2001. They broke through with The Silence in Black and White (2004) and the signature single Ohio Is For Lovers, followed by If Only You Were Lonely (2006). After the death of guitarist/vocalist Casey Calvert in 2007, the band continued with albums including Fragile Future (2008), Skeletons (2010), Zero (2013), Bad Frequencies (2018), and The Rain Just Follows Me (2021).04 Reviews
Other reviews
By Tobby
Those who appreciate the genre and do not have particular demands in terms of originality, should at least give this CD a chance.
'Ohio Is For Lovers' will most likely become your new favorite song and by the tenth listen... your love for the band will become such that you will be ready even for a dud like 'If Only You Were Lonely.'
