The Hostage Heart "Where There is Despair, Hope;" CD
[Five Point]
Ehhh, I'm not really into this. It's chaotic metalcore that blends chugga styled breakdowns with chunky death metal runs, note-based metal riffing with a mildly technical flare, some dissonant chords, jarring and frantic rhythms full of quick changes, and vocals that shift from brutal growls to shrieking high-pitched screams. There are a few cool riffs here and there, but the songwriting is generally bland and I don't like the recording. The drums are really thin and sound too flimsy, the bass falls to the back and gets lost behind the kick drums, and the guitar tone is all midrange without any real crunch or upfront presence to dominate the tracks. The playing is pretty tight, I'm just not a fan of the songs themselves. There are some really cool rhythmic chunks in "Dead Front Tooth", but they sound almost totally lifted from early Candiria, so that lessens the blow for me. Most of the songs are kind of a blur of different riffs, though. It's simply not enjoyable in my opinion. They seem competent as musicians, but I'm really not grabbed by anything other than the melodic chord progression and slick picking patterns with a quick lead break in "Destroy, Rebuild, Destroy", which is an otherwise uneventful track. And the vocals... man, the vocals really get to me. The growls just don't sound forceful and the screaming is annoying as shit, not to mention overpowering. The layout does look really good, with dark, bleak imagery, clean typefaces, etc. The lyrics are openly dealing with relationships and all that stuff, complete with apparently obligatory "witty" song titles that don't necessarily apply. There are too many constant references to blood and all that stuff, so it's a little too generic for me in that department, I have to say. But then again, this is a generic EP as a whole. There's just nothing here that separates this band from the pack, and as brief as it is it gets old fast since most of the songs sound extremely similar to one another. I don't know, maybe it's just personal taste, but I think this is a snoozer. (5/10)
Running time - 16:35, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: no complete song really does anything for me]
Five Point Records - http://www.fivepointrecords.com

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