With Honor "Heart Means Everything" CD
[Stillborn]
I was really looking forward to this record because their EP really impressed me (despite its weak recording, which has been improved upon here), and sure enough this is just under a half-hour of intense melodic metalcore that reminds me a lot of Shai Hulud meets Bane or something of that nature, and while it's not as good as either of those bands, there are a lot of fucking amazing riffs packed into these songs, and I really like their sense of energy. They've got the heavier breaks that don't get too moshy or groovy, a few chord progressions that are faster and lean more towards old school hardcore, lots of interesting chord formations that are both melodic and slightly dissonant, octave chords, note based runs, plenty of dual guitar parts that work together rather than doubling one another (the bass also acts as its own instrument), nice yelling vocals with some obscenely huge and perfectly mixed gang backup shouts, etc. "Stolen Glances" (a brief instrumental) even breaks out some excellent acoustic guitars, which could be even more curious if blended in with the band's actual songs. The only slight setback I might cite is that a lot of the tracks do sound very similar to one another without a great number of true standouts, so even at a mere 28 minutes in length things can get a little old on occasion. But I always tend to find myself trying to follow the riffs and picking patterns because these guys have a really unique way of playing that you don't hear so often. The recording is light years ahead of the EP, though there's still room for improvement. For the most part everything sounds good, I might just work on a thicker yet clearer mix. The rhythm section sounds pretty damn good, but there's a little separation going on, mainly in regards to the vocals. And it's not messy at all, but it's somehow hard to really decipher what's going on sometimes, and I think closing things in together for a more cohesive end result would help... the space between individual elements seems to let things slip out of focus. The layout has sort of a worn book look to it, which I like for the most part. I could do without the somewhat goofy and very unnecessary collage of photos underneath the CD, but the front cover looks excellent. The layout actually would've look far superior on matte paper, but hey, that's life. Lyrically everything is personal and has a glimmer of positivity beneath it all: "It's time to choose our sides. No backing out. And if they want a war, they'll see a war, they'll get a war tonight. There's power in our desperation, there's strength in a mind that does not rest, always ready always holding on..." Hopefully these cats will keep at it, because they've yet to reach their full potential, and when they do they're gonna fucking destroy pretty much everyone. Good stuff. (7/10)
Running time - 27:53, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Rethink, Return, With the Wind, Perfect Stance]
With Honor - http://www.withhonor.com

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