Review Summary: House of Heroes Is In The House
Foot tappingly catchy, sing along melodic, and amazingly poppy. Confused yet? Maybe the trend for these reviews to lean towards metal albums isn’t as noticeable as it seems. Any who, I recently gave a listen to House of Heroes’s reissue of their independently released debut with the new title Say No More (released by Mono vs. Stereo Records on May 2, 2006). And I can not say for sure why I am just now listening to it all the way through. It brings to the stereo a pretty wicked combination of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Relient K, and possibly Pink Floyd.
The album brings a refreshingly original and compelling catchiness to the slowly dying out genre of pop punk. With such repetitive and cliché acts as Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Boys Like Girls, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus releasing albums that sound disturbingly similar to their own earlier works as well as one another, it was quite the delight to discover a band with a new approach to the genre.
The music is, quite obviously, very catchy. The song titles often times include clever plays on words or allusions (“The Invisible Hook” or “You Are The Judas Of The Cheerleading Squad”). The lyrics, however, are decidedly positive and heartfelt. As most readers have probably guessed from the trend of previous reviews, House of Heroes has a spiritual inspiration and often times addresses matters of faith or other aspects of Christianity in their fittingly witty lyrics. The vocal performance by vocalists Tim Skipper, Colin Rigsby, and AJ Babcock carry a lovely touch of harmony, epic immediacy, and edge that makes them similar to another diverse rock act in the alternative rock group Stone Temple Pilots (only without the drugs). Even going so far as to include the pop equivalent of gang vocals in the song “You Are The Judas Of The Cheerleading Squad.”
The musical aspect of the album varies from song to song with some being faster and more aggressive and some being slower and more melodic. There is an obvious influence from British pop bands like MUSE. The music does well to accompany, compliment, and sometimes surpass the often times chilling shared vocals.
The album is not one to be accurately described in words. So, to find something more than worn out pop, I would advise that this album be picked up. Too bad these guys are not going to be getting radio play. The radio could use the new sound.
Songs to Download:
- “Buckets For Bullet Wounds”
- “Make A Face Like You Mean It (Vampires)”
- “You Are The Judas Of The Cheerleading Squad”
