Tag Archives: Melodic Hardcore

Music

Counterparts – The Difference Between Hell And Home

Published by:


If you had asked me a few months ago to recommend you a melodic hardcore band I would have had to tell you that I really don’t know any good ones; maybe I would have told you that Close Your Eyes might be something for you…but today I can confidently tell you that Counterparts are the band that you must absolutely check out. Specifically their new record The Difference Between Hell And Home.

To cut to the chase: the five Canadians have even further improved their musical prowess in comparison to the predecessor The Current Will Carry Us. Every single and drumbeat sounds just right and contributes to making the entirety of the eleven songs a beautiful masterpiece. Which results in the fact that both the heavy and melodic parts go hand in hand as if they were best friends, so to speak, without following the good old “melodic-breakdown-heavy” formula. The production is, I would say, the most balanced one out of their three endeavors thus far: every instrument is clearly audible and well accentuated.

The main selling point, to me, for Counterparts are their very strong lyrics…this has always been the case and it didn’t change on this album. Writing about them wouldn’t do them justice, so I strongly urge you to give them a thorough listen, or preferably read them in the booklet. At least to me they feature a lot of topics that I can personally identify with, whether that is good or not is not for me to tell.

To wrap it up: if you have never really given the genre a chance because you were unsure where to start…look no further. TDBHAH is hands-down as close as it gets to being a perfect representation of this type of music. But, as I said above, you only get the full experience if you pay attention to the message as well. For more info you can visit the band’s Facebook page and get an impression by watching the video below. To quote the people from South Park: blame Canada…for good music in this case.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpZTJKPLVFc]

Music

Close Your Eyes – Empty Hands And Heavy Hearts

Published by:


Today I want to do something slightly different by asking you a question: has it ever happened to you that you listened to a record when it first came out, dismissed it because you didn’t like it; then a couple of years later you randomly gave it another listen and you ended up loving it? Well that’s exactly what happened to me earlier this month with Close Your Eyes‘ Empty Hands And Heavy Hearts from 2011!

Their music is a very melodic type of hardcore with some small hints of pop-punk, which were more pre-dominant on the predecessor We Will Overcome. The instrumental department leaves nothing to wish for, especially the drums were the thing that sucked me back in when I re-listened to the twelve songs. The melodic guitar-work rounds the whole package off nicely, but the major (re-)selling point for me is…in the next paragraph.

If you’ve read one or two reviews of mine you know that I generally pay attention to the lyrics in music and, more often than not, find similarities between the words and my own life. And even though the band is of Christian belief, which I am not, I managed to identify with a lot of their songs’ meanings. The fact that their singer’s voice is highly enjoyable obviously makes it even easier to like.

To sum things up: this review isn’t really about the record itself but rather me telling you that sometimes it’s worth giving something you dismissed at first another chance. So go through your music collection and give that one album you never really got into another go…you might experience the same thing I did. For more info, you can find the band on Facebook and listen to their song below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkpYTU7bg38]

Music

The Convois – Ocean’s Tale

Published by:


Have you ever gone to a small gig to maybe watch some of your friends play, but aside from them you didn’t know any other band that was set to appear that night? Well, exactly that happened to me last Saturday when I went to Soul Kitchen in Luxembourg for the Locals Fest 3. As I entered the venue I was surprised by a band that completely blew me away in the course of their set: The Convois! Despite a rather small crowd the band gave their everything and delivered a stunning performance. It was clear to me that I wanted to write about their music and so I asked them for their debut album Ocean’s Tale!

The band plays a very melodic type of hardcore that should be appealing to both newcomers to the genre as well as veterans. The ten songs feature some pretty intricate guitar work that shouldn’t bore you any time soon. The same can be said for the drums, which have some pretty nifty fills here and there. Instrumentally speaking there is simply nothing negative that can be said, to be honest.

The main thing that struck me however are definitely the vocals. I have to preface this by saying that when they played live they had a female singer, along their front man, which immediately peaked my interest because it’s a rather rare, but very refreshing, sight. While she had a rather prominent role in their live set, she only features on a couple of songs on the album…while it takes away a bit of the diversity of the songs it doesn’t hurt them at all. This is due to the fact that the lead singer has immensely good clean vocals and even better screams.

To sum it up, I’d say that these thirty-two minutes won’t let you down but if you want to experience The Convois the best way you can, you should head to one of their gigs. You can find a list of them on their Facebook page, and if you need convincing, listen to the song below!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdXwpX4YbGs]