Silence In Black And White - Hawthorne Heights > Reviews > Wake up call

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	sticks in your mind, each song tells a story
Disadvantages:	not to the taste of everyone

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Silence in Black and White is Hawthorne Heights debut album but to be honest it's sound like it has been made by a band who has experience in the music world. It's a magnificant album and each song is worth listening to. It's one of those albums you can sit and listen to the whole way through without skipping tracks which are pretty rare to find.

I first heard about this band through a site called PureVolume this site let me listen and download there first single "Ohio is for Lovers" which I found utterly amazing. It stood out from all the other music i was used to listening to. It definatley made me grow to like this type of music alot more.

The first track "Life On Standby" is and amazing song it dosen't build up at all it throws you right into the action which can be a shock to some but to me it was amazing. after a short burst of what is now known as "screamo" the main vocals (JT woodruff) come in and his voice strikes you, it has a very individual sound. I think this is what makes Hawthorne Heights stand out so much.

Another part of their uniqueness is the way they seem to take the outline of a story. Each song seems to have a begginning, a middle, and an end which you dont really find in alot of songs in the charts. Most of the time these different parts of the song will contrast with eachother, like a change of mood in the song, but this doesn't sound at all strange it fits together and has a smooth transition. there are alot of bands that have tried this in the past and the only ones i have found to pull this off succesfully are bands that have been in the music business for a long time. So for a band just coming on to the scene i felt Hawthonre heights took a big risk, but the risk was worth taking because they have produced some spectacular songs.

The guitar riffs and drumming are very "traditional" yet suit the occasion. The focus of this band is mostly in the strength and emotion of their vocals. Lyrically, the words are generally quite suicide and death based which are not quite to everybody's taste, but this doesn't really phase me, however, as I tend to pay more attention to the music and spectaular sound of JT Woodruff's voice. If you think about when you listen to the songs JT's voice contrasts alot with the scremo. His voice sounds alot more pained where as the scremo just sounds well screamo.

I'd say that the 2 most noticable tracks are "Life on Standby" and "silver bullet" which are really in your face but i like it that way. the 2 most bearable for people with other music tastes would be "Ohio is for lovers" and "niki fm".

i would suggest if you haven't heard any of Hawthorne Heights music yet that "ohio is for lovers" is probably the best track to listen to.

This cd will take you away it's a brilliant cd and although its not to everyones taste it's the most spectacular cd i've heard in a long time.