A Thorn For Every Heart

It's Hard To Move You

Written by: PP on 25/07/2007 14:47:44

A Thorn For Every Heart has a name that screams emo in all possible ways, but it suited them well when they released their critically acclaimed screamo EP "Silence Is Golden" back in 2003, when modern emo was all new and exciting. Since then, the band has progressively moved away from emo, first significantly reducing the amount of screams on their debut album "Things Aren't So Beautiful Now", where they focussed more on melody instead of intensity, and now making a huge leap forward artistically on their sophomore album "It's Hard To Move You". It is also the album that they needed to write to avoid being labeled as yet another cliché emo band, and is an improvement in almost every aspect even though it probably won't surpass the EP as the fan-favorite record.

So lets get straight into the new record. The crying-your-eyes out saddening mood has disappeared straight from the album opener "It's Hard To Move You" and has been replaced by a much brighter, happier soundscape. The instrumental atmosphere has taken inspiration from Angels & Airwaves, though it doesn't wallow into the same over-experimentation that Tom DeLonge's band is criticized of. This makes songs like "It's Hard To Move You" big in a nice way without fear of sounding artificially inflated. "Worthless" is probably going to be the last song this band will ever scream on, and even here the screams are faded to the background during the chorus where they merely echo around the bright guitars and singing. Vocalist Kelvin Cruz has largely rid himself from the nasal vocal style of the debut album, and consequently sounds more solid and melodic than ever before. "You're The One" is a semi-acoustic power pop ballad but it works equally well to the heavier songs on record, especially the chorus is worth paying attention to, as here Cruz's high-pitch vocals work the best on the record. "Object Of Desire" could be labeled as an emocore song with its guitar dynamics, but it is much more than that as the melodic chorus shows.

Half way through the album and all songs so far have a couple of things in common. They all are built around plenty of catchy hooks and melodic, singalongable choruses. Fortunately, the songs are different enough to avoid the Hawthorne Heights pitfall, and almost every song is a potential radio hit even on the second half of the album. To quote Cruz's lyrics on "No More You": "When the radio.. plays this song.. I hope you can't help.. but sing along". When their choruses are as infectious as these, Cruz has little to worry about. However, at the same time the album isn't very deep or complex. The riffs are all pretty straight forward and there isn't even ankle-deep depth on any of the songs. But listening to a song like "Sounds And Silence" shows that isn't the point. "It's Hard To Move You" works simply because the sheer amount of melodic hooks it has makes the album convincing. Sometimes all you need to write a good album is a bunch of great choruses.

8

Download: Worthless, It's Hard To Move You, Object Of No Desire
For the fans of: A Heartwell Ending, Saosin, Armor For Sleep
Listen: Myspace

Release date 31.07.2007
Kickball Records

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