No Division - Hot Water Music

No offence to whoever wrote the other opinion of this album, but you're just plain wrong. I urge you, the reader, not to listen to anything negative you hear about this band because they are quite simply one of the best bands of the last decade. Hot Water Music descend all categorisation: Punk rock, hardcore, emo... whatever you want to call it, Hot Water Music have, over the course of 9 years and 6 albums (not including the countless 7 inches, eps ...
...getting into this style of music. Hot Water Music have inspired a whole new breed of Gainesville + No Idea inspired rock bands and depriving yourself of them would be a crime.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but I kind of like this band!  ... more

No offence to whoever wrote the other opinion of this album, but you're just plain wrong. I urge you, the reader, not to listen to anything negative you hear about this band because they are quite simply one of the best bands of the last decade. Hot Water Music descend all categorisation: Punk rock, hardcore, emo... whatever you want to call it, Hot Water Music have, over the course of 9 years and 6 albums (not including the countless 7 inches, eps and splits they've appeared on), developed their sound into absolute perfection.

Hot Water Music are melodic hardcore played with pure passion and emotion: a sound where every note played drips fist-punching passion and compells you to join in. A sound where every chorus and shout-along makes you forget, just for a second, how shitty things are while you just get lost in the music. Live, Hot Water Music are absolutely something else: I have never seen a room so totally united, regardless of personal differences, as I did when I saw HWM live last year. The amazing thing is, they manage to transfer this incredible live energy and positive atmosphere to record, and they do a damn good job of it...

"No Division" is their fourth album and, thus far, is the best thing they've done yet, just outshining their incredible second album "Fuel For The Hate Game". To put it bluntly, there is not a bad song on this album. From the blistering opener "Southeast First" to the closing rush of "In Song", this album doesn't stop rocking for one second. There's just something about it that grabs you by the balls and screams "LISTEN TO ME, I AM AMAZING". Songs like "Rooftops" and "No Division" are just incredible rock songs with some of the best choruses ever committed to wax: play these songs LOUD and just try not to scream along, pointing your index finger in the air!

Believe it or not, the band are all incredible musicians, especially bassist Jason Black. Black proves the theory that, while no-one notices a bad bassist, EVERYONE notices a good one - Black's rolling and complex basslines really lift the music on tracks like "Free Radio Gainesville". The guitars intertwine with one another perfectly, just like the dual vocals, two aspects which HWM have steadily improved over each album. Seperate guitar and vocal lines mix with one another to make a vast sound which is still tight as anything, until getting to the inevitable amazing choruses which are littered all over every song. Admittedly, the strained and gravelly vocal style takes some getting used to, but if you're willing to discard a band because their singer "sounds a bit odd" then you're a lost cause really.

As with all HWM releases, this album is a total package and the artwork by Scott Sinclair is absolutely fabulous. When you add all this to the fact that, in "Hard To Know", this album contains one of the true punk anthems of recent times, I think this should just be an absolutely compulsorary package for anybody getting into this style of music. Hot Water Music have inspired a whole new breed of Gainesville + No Idea inspired rock bands and depriving yourself of them would be a crime.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but I kind of like this band! 

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