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Hawthorne Heights

If Only You Were Lonely

Written by: PP on 20/01/2006 01:18:26

I'd like to commence this review by asking Hawthorne Heights a simple, one worded question: Why? The band has been the flagship band of Victory Records for the last two years and has received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of promotion. They've headlined several big-money tours and have travelled around the world promoting their debut album "The Silence In Black And White", which was already almost too clich? to pass through the critics. But "If Only You Were Lonely" takes it all a step further, and unfortunately for the band, it is a step to the wrong direction.

The screams have been deducted to a bare minimum and have been polished up, as if to say "Take it easy guys, don't hurt yourselves at the moshpit", the songs sound like re-recordings of the debut album, with the only difference being that they are more radio friendly than the older ones. The problem with "If You Were Lonely" is that there isn't a single song as good as "Niki FM" or "Ohio Is For Lovers". Instead, we are given a mediocre single "This Is Who We Are" and "Light Sleeper", a song so obviously penned with the radio in mind that it makes me want to throw up.

So the question I present to the guys is WHY? Is it the money you are after? If so, fine. This album will grant you hours and hours of airplay, sold out arena tours in the states and will win over millions of new fans. But this is at the expense of alienating those of us who made you what you are. Those of us who loved you when you were nothing but that cool MySpace band. Those of us who loved "Niki FM" and the soared screams of "Dissolve And Decay". Those of us who now hate you for removing our favorite parts of your sound. This has to have been your own choice, as Victory isn't a label known to pressure bands into creating a sound different to their wishes.

With "If Only You Were Lonely", Hawthorne Heights establishes their name as a synonym to the term clich? emo. Ironically, the band said it themselves so I can just quote the title of the second song on the album: "We Are So Last Year".

Download: This Is Who We Are, Light Sleeper
For the fans of: Senses Fail, Matchbook Romance

Release date 28.02.2006
Victory Records