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Thy Catafalque
Stengade, Copenhagen, DEN - 6/4
Album Reviews
Heartsounds
Internal Eyes
Written by: PP on 15/11/2013 23:44:59
Okay, so take the bright, high-octane punk rock of The Swellers, put it together with the emo vibes from Bayside and These Green Eyes, and you've pretty much got Heartsounds. These Bay Area punks released their third album "Internal Eyes" last month, and it's basically a pedal-to-the-floor punk rock onslaught with catchy chorus melodies, a strong male/female vocal dynamic, and, well, not much more than that.
Yes, the tempo occasionally drops from hyperactive to merely fast, but Heartsounds' biggest problem is that all of their songs sound way too much alike. I've now spent a few weeks with the record, but other than the strong album opener "A Total Separation of Self", and the sing along piece "Cycles", it's difficult to distinguish the songs from one another. Perhaps if the band replaced their jet engines with regular V8's, we'd have a chance to stick with them throughout the album. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually a staunch advocate of high energy punk rock, but the combination of hyperspeed delivery and the unusually high-pitched, emo vocal delivery doesn't work very well together. The problem is that they resemble The Swellers way too much for their own good, especially because those guys write better songs with more layered vocal harmonies and subtle melodies than Heartsounds demonstrate here.
"Internal Eyes" isn't a bad album, per se. It has a bunch of catchy songs that individually make it worthwhile to check the band out, maybe even go to a show and sing along for a bit. But because of the lack of variation, the record blends together in an unfortunate manner, and when you're done, all you'll take away from it is this: some female/male dual vocal harmonies, a whole lot of really fast drumming and riffing, but no real highlights to write home about.
Download: A Total Separation Of Self, Cycles
For the fans of: The Swellers, Bayside, These Green Eyes, This Is A Standoff
Listen: Facebook
Release date 15.10.2013
Flix Records / Creator Destructor Records