2006-03-09
With honor might be mistakenly categorized as a happy hardcore band – the truth is they are just a simple thrownback hardcore band with some melodic elements.
This five piece band is made of past and present members of various hardcore acts, meaning they aren’t rookies in the demanding hardcore scene.
“This is our revenge” opens with the fast “Like trumpets”, having some melodic riffs well combined into the running-away-from-the-police drum beat; I can almost call it metalcore, duo to some of the vocal parts.
“Plot Two” starts good, I really like the opening riff here, and the lyrics are excellent (though I’m not too sure how well they go with this type of rough hardcore), there’s a little break let by the drums and effected narrated vocals that really adds another dimension to the song.
The next three tracks are more accessible- “Elevens” sounds like one of those punkrock covers, while the shorter “Up and out” and the standard “Closets” are what I would call easy listening hardcore, a great way to introduce this style to those who are into mainstream metalcore.
“Bottoms up” and “20 Strong” display a jumpier vibe; both are very energetic, the latter is a definite highlight for its change of tempos.
Another highlight is “You always said”, starting with a clean guitar (later combines throughout the song), the guitars are more dominant and diverse, and the vocals are perfectly integrated.
“A new year” goes back to the same line of the accessible tracks, and “Small dreams” just sounds like the rest – these two aren’t very interesting, average every manner.
The closing track is a bit more relaxed, it’s slower and gives the right amount of space after such an intense album – this is good closure.
This might not be as good a release as the past hardcore releases but it sure is a good enough effort in the light of them.
Ofer Vayner
