Album: Fragile Future
Release Date: August 5th, 2008
Hawthorne Heights has always been one of my favorite pop punk/screamo bands. Songs like "Ohio Is For Lovers," "Saying Sorry," and "Pens and Needles" really seemed to show off the catchy yet aggressive music Hawthorne Heights quickly became known for.
Sadly and unexpectedly, Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert was found dead November 24th 2007 at the age of 26. He was a huge part of the band and helped to define their popular, catchy sound. His death was a definite tragedy, he would have made a lot of great music and done a lot of great things. RIP...
The band however decided to move on, admitting that Casey would have wanted it that way. I couldn't agree more. It is quite obvious that most of the lyrics from "Fragile Future" are about Casey.
The new album however left me disappointed and unsatisfied. HH changed their sound completely, no screaming at all, no aggressiveness, and a more pop like sound. Just listen to their single "Rescue Me" and you will know what I mean.
I just miss the screaming, and the aggressiveness that made HH what they were known for. The new album lacks the old aggressive tone, leaving behind a real "empty" sound. I keep waiting for the songs to pick up, become more aggressive, but they don't. A lot of the songs just don't seem to go anywhere at all.
I understand that Casey died and the band is really emotional about him, and wanted to write this album for him. But why write bad music when they know they are completely capable of writing way better stuff? Fragile future is not a bad album, its just mediocre and HH is capable of writing way better music than this. Its not a bad album, its just not that good.
I still love HH but I just think the new record was a step in the wrong direction. Ill keep listening to it, maybe it will grow on me, but I think they should be more than just mediocre at best, and to me, thats all Fragile Future is.
Notable Songs
-The Business of Paper Stars
-Rescue Me
-Somewhere In Between
-Come Back Home
Vocals - 6 - pretty monotone voice, the vocals at the end of "Until Judgment Day" are just downright ANNOYING. Where the heck is the screaming?
Musicianship - 5- nothing fancy here, no cool bass riffs, no crazy guitar solos, no cool drum fills, nada... not bad musicians...solid group....
Creativity - 6.5 - definitely a different sound for HH but not too original sounding
Lasting Value - 4.5 - Listen to HH's older albums instead
Tilt: --
Overall Score 5.5/10
Final Opinion:
-not a bad album
-its great that these guys are still together and strong
-HH is capable of way better music than this
Sorry about this not to "positive" post... I should have some cool info on some actual GOOD new releases in the near future.
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