Kill Your Own - Hundred Reasons > Reviews > Hundred Reasons - Kill Your Own

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	A strong return from an underrated band
Disadvantages:	Still not quite reaching their full potential .  .  .  .  .  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

"Kill Your Own" is the third studio album from British hard-rock band Hundred Reasons, following the unprecedented success of debut release "Ideas Above Out Station" and it's follow-up "Shatterproof Is Not A Challenge". Released in early 2006, it is the band's first album since their change to the label V2 Music.

Many people felt that the band's follow-up from their debut album was somewhat of a let down considering the success of "Ideas Above Our Station" that broke them out of the underground and into the mainstream, so with that in mind, many people awaited for this album with baited breath, to see if the band could return to successful ways, or whether or not their debut was a mere fluke......

Opening track "Broken Hands" starts things off excellently, and from a personal point of view, out does more or less every track off "Shatterproof is Not a Challenge" with it's crunching riff and rythmical chorus, being very reminiscent of the bands earlier years.

But don't think it stops there, oh no! The title track off the album, "Kill Your Own" follows next, and personally, after several listens now, I would confidently describe it as one of, if not, their best ever song - even out doing tracks like "Silver" and "Falter" from "IAOS". The chorus lyric of "And if I leave you, would you smile?" lives long in the memory after a number of listens.

After these two cracking tracks, some people's ideas of the band may instantly lead them to think it would fall apart soon afterwards, but thankfully this is not so. Tracks "Destroy" and "The Chance" are just on a par in strength as the opening two after a couple of listens, but if they were better, this album would be getting on for being one of the albums of the year! But despite not reaching that accolades it's not to say they're not strong. They are. The former track enters with a chunching riff and lead guitar, that again is reminiscent of their style, the latter starts off calmly until exploding, thankfully not un-controllably, into a mass of Hundred Reasons-esque music...(unsurprisingly!!)

"The Perfect Gift" is another personally favourite after a couple of listens. Lyrics sung such as "Your songs will be breaking all hearts again" show the emotional side of the band...but please, don't bother labelling them "emo" for gods sake!

"Live Fast, Die Ugly" does just as the title suggests - crashes into you at almighty pace from the word go. For those deterred by screaming in music, you may be sceptical over this song, which is understandable. Other Hundred Reason fans however may just see it as another strong song by the band, and an exciting addition to any set list...

The following tracks, "Feed the Fire", "This Mess" and "A Better Way?" all easily compete with any track off "SINAC" but due to the high standards set from the first few songs, there is something about them that means they just drift by the way side. "This Mess" is the stronger of the three, being a beautifully melodic piece, showing a clear strength of the band.

"No Pretending" and "Breathe Again" round off the album fairly strongly. The former song is somewhat lost due to it being so far back on the album, as it is an impressive tune. The final song is a typical last-track-off-an-album-kind-of-song - six and a half minutes long, half of which is just a wind down in music in wrap up the album.

It may not be quite as strong as "IAOS" due to the odd weak link, but for anyone who has that album, or have heard of the band, I must strongly recommend this album.

You'll be able to pick it up off Amazon for £6.97 at the moment...so that'll do nicely for anyone interested in hard-rock, or just expanding their music horizons in general.