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Sometimes you have to bow to the obvious and admit that a work is beautiful in itself and not because it references some avant-garde movement or has hidden subliminal or intellectual messages between the lines. Sometimes, unfortunately, only a few times. In a musical world split in half between extreme contentism and empty popism, finding a record that skillfully and crisply threads the needle moves me.
"The Neon Handshake" (2002 @ EMI Records) is the first work of Hell Is For Heroes, a band of young Englishmen born in South West London in the early 2000s, and in its beginnings, it profusely released EPs. They had it easy, quickly captured by a major label. So, the premise is certainly not like those praised bands "that-make-their-own-way-and-the-rest-stinks." And yet?
Emotions, cuts, wild splinters, simple and sharp lyrics, and lots and lots of passion. That would be enough to describe the album, and perhaps I should stop here. What good would it do to convince you that even though it clearly references a never-more-inflated EMO movement, our guys emerge from the chaos with wonderful songs in vocal lines (kudos to the singer Justin Schlosberg) and in never too intricate, but rather tasteful guitars? "Five Kids Go" is jumping on the bed and landing feet first on the floor to make as much noise as possible to the poor 80-year-old neighbor living below. The boys also had the bright idea (always to avoid too predictable criticisms) of inviting the Deftones for a snack, bravo ("Out Of Sight"). What point is there in telling you that "Night Vision" is perhaps one of the most beautiful and engaging rock rides (beware, horses don't have fog lights) of recent years? The power of the guitars is unstoppable but the tones are never of the "wrist-cutting" kind, on the contrary, a strange, nocturnal light shines on the album, could it be the Neon? The guys have courage and guilelessness to sell, and the rhythmic, bouncing rock of "I Can Climb Mountains" would represent their perfect single if it weren't that they later release a monster of energetic charge like "You Drove Me To It." Dishes at the forefront, but in lo-fi, guitar distant and then?upgrade in quality (audio and otherwise) and a terribly catchy chorus, with a semi-screamo second voice in the background, and heads bobbing and hair swaying. Tired but satisfied, let's let "Slow Song" cradle us. Ahhh, finally the long, poignant piece that many love(hate)! Be careful because the end is heart-stopping, it reminds me of "Post Tour, Pro Judgment" by Aereogramme, if not for the fact that this is an EMO album! Damn!
But what good does it do for me to bother telling you these things? I think nothing, but I did it anyway (what a joker I am).
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Five Kids Go (03:44)
Do you have the time to kill
Let's go head for the shore
Do you have the will to jump
Down from the top of the world
If it's easier to burn
Tie me up on a stake
Empty high roads are calling, calling
My defences are slowly breaking them down
Fuck these headstrong scheming plans
Let's go head for the shore
On my last legs i'll take a stand
And jump from the top of the world
If it's easier to burn
Tie me up on a stake
Fire is my only friend
Empty high roads are calling, calling
My defences slowly breaking
Fuck your well-trained golden handshake
All we need is space to roam
All we have left is self-control
All we have to do is pack up and go
So catch me falling if you can
Cut your ties and flush them down
Cos we're tking back the rein
Take control of time
02 Out of Sight (02:33)
Once more i get burned
Kick out the closed gate
Coz i'm ready to join the crowd
And i'm ready
To unlock the padlock on my mind
Twisted and torn
Tensions that tear
My will from my mind
Reason from rhyme
And i can't decide
Which one to feed
And which one to fight
Once more i get scarred
Break through the brick wall
Just gather my thoughts and go
And i'm ready
To pick up the pieces of my life
I wanna be out of sight
I wanna be out of mind
Can't seem to judge
The distance between
My hands and feet
Quite literally
Walk slowly into the vacuum
This is the end of everything
Welcome back to the black hole
Raise the shade up from your eyes
And i'll be out of sight
And i'll be out of mind
03 Night Vision (03:34)
under a blanket of fear
down a bottomless pit
i've been waiting for this night to open my eyes
wide awake i see in the dark
see the fences breaking apart
get together with my old friends
once again we breathe in the air
escape to somewhere far from nowhere
where the sky's been tainted red
where the sky's been tainted..
up on a bank by a stream trading memories for dreams
fading echoes and pictures we burn at the seams
and now our wings are painted gold
they'll make idols of us yet
empty promises they sold
will reach their best before dates soon...
i can see it all (x4)
07 I Can Climb Mountains (03:20)
give me some kind of hope
give me one honest lie to promote
and try to think better days when you choke
when blood for profit gain wins your vote
and you can fake smiles to make you feel
when its time to break the deal
cos it's easy now, i'm easy now
and buy a new disease
when it pays to sell the cure
it's easy now, im easy now
cos i can climb mountains
i can spit further than you can hurl
and i can swallow failure just to learn
and i can build bridges from, what you burn
and you can fake smiles to make you feel
when its time to close the deal
and it's easy now, i'm easy now
and buy a new disease
when it pays to sell the cure
it's easy now, i'm easy now
cos i can run, i can hide
i can take a world of pain in a stride
and i don't need fairy tales to pretend
and i don't need heroes to depend on
i can heal, i can regenerate
i can give birth and i can meditate
and i can hate, i can love, i can fuck
i can see the view below from the top
with arms around it
i'll take the summit
with arms around it
i'm home
09 You Drove Me to It (03:01)
somebody better give me a sting
somebody better make me bleed
fill this vacancy underneath my skin
cos i'm fighting with a thorn in my side
i never meant to fall this far
i have grown the soul of an enemy
i hold an element of surprise
god knows its gonna make you smile
breathing immortality
i'm falling down one thousand feet
so lets gather with the gods tonight
and play truant for the final time
i've been strung from hell
give me birth again
cos i never meant to climb this high
my guts are gonna drop like flies
breathing immortality
i'm falling down one thousand feet
and oh my god one hundred floors
flash faster than my eyes can meet
give me something sacred
so long
so deep
so high
so far
so good
so much pressure building
they won't break me
they won't ground me (repeat until end)
(Second voice track)
breathing immortality
i'm falling down one thousand feet
and oh my god one hundred floors
flash faster than my eyes can meet
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