Review Summary: I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone....but I'm Still Searching for the words.
The old nostalgia draw has always been a powerful motivator for fans, hell, death metal has long since produced a whole movement of bands recreating the “old school” sounds of yesteryear. This familiarity can serve as the butter greasing the stale, crusted tastes of listeners looking to find new music while not venturing too far into the unknown, to delivering other listeners a fresh take on a tried and true formula, all the way to providing an excellent clone of a sound seemingly abandoned in today’s music. With their self-titled debut, Heart To Heart bring little to no originality to the table but what they do do (hehe) is channel the energy and heart of the alternative/post hardcore sound from the late 90’s, early 2000’s to a T.
Combining the melodic tendencies of bands like Crime in Stereo and Brand New with the raw energy and songwriting of a band like Senses Fail, Heart To Heart have, as mentioned earlier, not broken any new ground but all the same have made a damn fine record worthy of the bands they emulate. Loud, punching drums do more than contribute its fair share of vigor to the record with punk-esque beats and tempos being utilized freely and well. The guitars will supply the main portion of nostalgia for listeners to feast upon. Simple, catchy and best of all varied riffs, instantly take one back in time, (if you listened to this kind of music of course) an experience that would be hard to relate to if you didn’t live through this particular paradigm in rock personally. All the instruments complement each other well and more than complement the best part of the record, the vocals.
The sheer power and energy contained in the singer’s voice is amazing. The lyrics themselves are standard affair and display nothing to write home about but the fashion in which they are delivered makes it hard to believe they don’t have meaning to the band. His harsh stylings are noticeably more refined than the cleans as he has the “Tom Delounge Effect”, where it sounds more like he is saying the words rather than singing them however.
This record has the ability to be quite polarizing. While some will understand and appreciate the connection between
Heart To Heart and its predecessors from over a decade ago, it’s equally as easy for others to quite frankly not care one bit. One drawback for this record is due to its obvious comparisons to other bands and their lack of originality, it’s very difficult to attract those not already interested in the genre. For others like myself this record is a sonic time machine, transporting you back to simpler times where music, friends, and not failing school were the only things you had to worry about.
Heart To Heart won’t make believers out of non-believers but it just may make others rekindle their faith.
