Review Summary: Is This What You Wanted? Yes.
Why am I writing about a 12 year old Hawthorne Heights EP now? BECAUSE I JUST DISCOVERED IT AND DAMN..
Now I grew up in the late 90’s early 2000’s (got older – I never grew up) and I was a snotty nosed little *** that thought listening to Rancid and Sex Pistols meant I was better and more punk then anyone else…. That was until I found out about Underoath, who in turn changed my whole musical experience in life. Now why am I talking about this, well Hawthorne Heights were a band that I did listen to around that time, but I never really liked. Let’s face it – Ohio is for lovers IS corny as hell, catchy but come on man, lets be real. Even at 14 I knew it wasn’t exactly what I wanted out of music.
Fast forward a number of years, beer guts, couple kids, a divorce and grey hairs – now Hawthorne speaks to me.
Their HATE EP is a hidden gem I think in the EMO/POST HARDCORE genre.. Sure they don’t break any new ground and they do what they have done before BUT a hell of a lot better. Gone are the muffled awkward Screams of Casey (sorry bro, I know you’re gone but your screams annoyed me – no disrespect) and in comes Micah, who has been their lead guitarist since the start. Instantly from ‘Is This What You Wanted’ I was hooked. The opening track ‘There was a kid’ had me a bit interested. The same old Hawthorne lyrics were there but there was a bit more – maturity around them (maybe note ‘Hate’ though) but listening to ‘Is This What You Wanted’ let me know that in fact, this EP is EXACTLY what I wanted.
Four White Walls is the stand out track for me on the whole EP. It’s a POST-HARDCORE ball of goodness that doesn’t let you have a moment to remember you’re listening to the same young kids who would CUT MY WRIST AND BLACK MY EYES. The guys have grown up and this track is the pinnacle of that growth. All tracks hold their own on the EP and continue the story of the ‘Kid’ mentioned in the first track. Hate is probably the weakest track on the album purely based around the lyrics which do come off as less mature then what else is on the EP but its damn catchy.
I’ve now become a big fan of Hawthorne purely because of this EP – all their work after this EP is pretty solid - especially the HOPE and HATE EPS. Of course they still have slight mishaps here and there but overall they have grown into a solid, passionate EMO/POST HARDCORE band that really deserves more love now than they got before, that’s my humble opinion anyways.
Stand out tracks
Four White Walls
Is this What You Want
Divided
