The Hurt Process "A Heartbeat Behind" CD
[Victory]
Well, I can say this: These UK kids have improved a shitload since their debut.  They're not great, and they seem to be undergoing a little bit of a stylistic shift towards a consistently heavier direction that brings in the unfortunate presence of some generic melodic Swedish death metal riffing, but regardless - as writers and performers this is a significantly better CD than "Drive By Monologue".  Still focusing on a blend of singing and screaming, this time out it's more of a 50/50 split, and the singing (which does still need a little more emphasis) has improved greatly with a lot of solid harmonies and such.  Musically there's still a ton of melody and plenty of emo/screamo stylings, but following the increased amount of screaming there's a lot more of the dissonant metalcore riffing, tremolo picking, and generally heavier fare to boot.  Despite the fact that the songs average a tasteful three to four minutes apiece, the band does still wander around and lose focus at times, tossing in everything from solos and energetic post-hardcore textures to laidback emo standards and frantic noises, not to mention plenty of staccato rhythms.  Among the more linear and efficient numbers is "Boogie Nights in Michigan", which is possibly the most straightforward and well written song herein.  It's closer "Reading Into It" however, ironically the longest song at nearly six minutes, that sees the band reaching their most powerful levels - transitioning well between singing and screaming with thicker and more forceful chord progressions that feel more natural than a lot of this work.  The recording needs some tweaking but works out for the most part.  The vocals feel mildly separated from the music and could use a little polishing up, and the drums are somewhat flat in areas, but I can definitely live with the guitars and bass as they are.  Some of the more note based metal riffs are perhaps a little choppy, and the clean guitars or lighter distortion in tracks like "A Mind With Two Faces" are too rough for sure, but the overall improvements made in the production department over the last album are even more notable than the growth they've endured as musicians and songwriters.  The layout's so-so for me.  Some of the artwork is cool, some is weak, but at least it's got a bit of a different look to it.  Lyrically it's your usual fare of relationship turmoil and all that jazz.  Nothing hits me as overly cheesy or anything, but it's so standard that I'm not interested in what's going on.  They're getting there, though.  Even though this disc doesn't win me over and has a lot of rough areas, it's nice to see one of these bands making a notable progression.  If they continue down this path I imagine their next record could be the one that works for me, assuming the recording cleans up a bit more, the few loose ends performance-wise are reigned in, and the songwriting pushes for a little added creativity and fluidity.  Honestly it was a mistake for them to open with "Anchor", as it's by far the most generic track herein and focuses so much on the melodic Swedish death metal riffing that it sounds out of place against a song like "The Night Before the Morning After" - an acoustic ballad of sorts which seems somewhat sappy, but still fits the band's generally more melodic style better than the overly aggressive stuff.  I actually think they'd be very well served to stray away from the directly metallic fare in favor the middleground blend in songs like "Reading Into It", so... we'll see what the future holds. (6/10)
Running time - 40:12, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Boogie Nights in Michigan, Reading Into It]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

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