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Heart To Heart

Heart To Heart

Written by: PP on 05/02/2013 23:00:28

I was almost ready to swear that Heart To Heart originate from the UK, for so Funeral For A Friend-esque is their approach to alternative-rock fueled post-hardcore. They blend together similar fast paced clean/scream dynamics as those guys did on their early material like so many other British bands, yet they originate from sunny California. Interesting. But I guess their self-titled debut album does integrate similar raw passion as Boysetsfire do on some of their more emotionally charged material, so they do have the American post-hardcore sound in the mix after all.

Basically, the era is early to mid 2000s, where post-hardcore was still developing and hadn't yet been saturated over and over again. Think bands like Senses Fail, partially Hawthorne Heights on the more emo oriented clean vocal passages, and you're pretty much there. The songs have fast dynamics mostly, where the vocals range from semi-clean croons to more aggressive screaming, and of course some of the usual high pitch emo stuff we're used to hearing these days. Those don't fit too well on the album in contrast to their sound if you ask me, and they should stick to their main vocalist as much as possible, which they wisely do as well throughout the record.

Further separating Heart To Heart from the modern incarnations of post-hardcore bands is the relentless tempo their songs are delivered with. They are in punk rock speeds most of the time, which gives their songs the energy and drive needed to create an impression. At least in theory. Despite a few standout tracks, Heart To Heart feel like they could be a great band but fall just short. The songs don't stick as much as they should, but they're very close to doing so. The emotional delivery of their vocalist must go overboard more often because those are the moments that really sound good. When his singing sounds passionate and uncompromising, instead of slightly restrained and held back as it does on many occasions. If they fix these issues and develop their songwriting, they'll be competing for fans with Funeral For A Friend very shortly.

Download: In Case You Haven't Noticed, Life Preserver, See Sick
For the fans of: Funeral For A Friend, Hawthorne Heights, Senses Fail, Boysetsfire
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.10.2012
Anchor Eighty Four Records