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August 28, 2008 |
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01. Preamble
02. Allude
03. The Arson
04. Insult With Injuries
05. Reused Decision
06. Predictable Gatherings
07. A Silver Medal
08. Brave
09. In A Name
10. Confiding In A Whisper
11. Keine Titelinformation
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Well, I gotta tell ya, this is not what I thought it might be. Although, when I saw the interesting album cover, I had a feeling this could be a different kind of CD than the typical 'core' album (the album cover is a picture of the top of a couple escalators that appear to be at an airport). This is rather creative and shows that the band is thinking outside the box and won't be trapped inside a specific label.
What's cool about this disc is that HAND TO HAND (Robert Kellom - vocals, Brock Berryhill - guitars/backing vocals, Jay Vilardi - guitars, Steve Martin - bass, and Zach Swain - drums), mix their songs up with death-y, hardcore vocals and really good clean vocals. Though the hardcore vocals are rather typical, the clean vocals do stand out - Kellom can sing!
Throughout "A Perfect Way To Say Goodbye", the band follow a fairly repetitive formula (the song starts, harsh vocals begin the change to clean vocals, then the song ends), however because the performances are good, the album doesn't seem formulaic at all. As well, the lyrics are a step above the typical metalcore-anger management issues with lyrics like "For what it's worth, I've already begun contemplating what we've lost. Can you leave the light for everyday? Everyday that's passing" (from "Preamble"), or "We all start fire inside with our words. Now that's all ashes so remain nameless" (from "The Arson"), or "Reused Decision" - "A pseudo assumption, now it's more to give. We're losing rain without the corners being taped". This is some interesting writing and it shows me that HAND TO HAND are into creating music that's more interesting.
"In A Name" is a seriously melodic tune and would have been a great ending to the album, however the disc ends on a low note with "Confiding In A Whisper", an acoustic piece that simply does not fit with the other songs on the album. I asked myself "Why? What's the point?" If the band would have stuck to what made the album good, then "A Perfect Way To Say Goodbye" would have rated higher.
This is a good band that have managed the difficult task of doing 'something different'. Though there's not much variety in the songs, they are different than the hordes of bands that occupy this crowded genre, and for a new band to begin this way, well...they're off to a good start. HAND TO HAND have created something good here, though I think a better album title might have been "A Very Good Way To Say Hello". Nicely done!
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