Music Banter - Hawthorne Heights-If Only You Were Lonely

Hawthorne Heights
http://umusicimages.ca/hawthorneheig...erelonelyb.jpg
Victory Records-2006

Tracklist:
1. This Is Who We Are
2. We Are So Last Year
3. Language Lessons (Five Words Or Less)
4. Pens And Needles
5. Saying Sorry
6. Dead In The Water
7. I Am On Your Side
8. Breathing In Sequence
9. Light Sleeper
10. Cross Me Off Your List
11. Where Can I Stab Myself In The Ears
12. Decembers

Hawthorne Heights first formed in 2001 as the band A Day In The Life, but changed their name to what they are now known as after some lineup changes, and a different take in direction in what music they were playing. After sending several demos out to many labels, Victory Records signed the band, and put out their debut album, The Silence In Black And White in 2004. The band had a great response to the album, getting heavy play from their first single, Ohio Is For Lovers, and eventually the album went gold. Now, I enjoyed that song, and thought it was all right, but the vocal job from front man JT was a little bit too whiny for my tastes. How did the rest of the album compare though when I bought it? Well, the answer sadly is that not one song could even begin to match up to that average song the band had as a single. The whole album was dreary, boring, and could not catch the listeners ear. Everything was so repetitive. Well, bands sometimes just need room to grow right? After all, there are three whole guitarists in the band; that could turn into something really cool, and unique. To bad they didn’t take advantage of that on their first album. However, did they use three guitars to their advantage on this follow up album, If Only You Were Lonely? Also, did their musical writing abilities mature to be entertaining, and did JT’s voice get better? All these questions, and more will be answered in the following paragraphs.

Well, I must say that when I heard the commercials for If Only You Were Lonely, my hopes for an increase in musicianship basically died. Saying Sorry is derivatively boring, and basically a continuance of the same kind of music that the band wrote for their first album, except worse. However, if you do unluckily become obsessed with this song, then you’re going to love the rest of the album. Two-thirds through the song it goes into a short acoustic part, where JT’s vocals there sound exactly ripped off of Ohio Is For Lovers. There goes any chance of originality.

The album starts off with This Is Who We Are, and it is apparent that JT has worked on his singing voice considerably. He actually sounds completely different on many songs when compared to the bands last album. His singing flows a lot smoother on many songs. However, the backup vocals are easily comparable to those of the drummer of Atreyu. They’re just plain horrid, and the screaming is about the same as the last album, in other words, very annoying. It’s a good though thing that screaming has become more of a once in a while thing for the band. All backup vocals aside though, JT has worked on his voice, and I commend him for that, but he still has a way to go before I can say he’s actually a good vocalist. Instrumentally, I once again would have no clue that there are a total of three guitars playing throughout each of the songs. Hawthorne Heights have sadly once again failed to take advantage of the situation. Not only does the band fail to take advantage of the fact that they have three guitarists, the guitar parts are considerably bland. There are not any good leads to a single song. The actual song writing is fairly repetitive. Many riffs in songs sound re-produced from the others songs on the album.

This album is horridly depressing. Every song is about one failing relationship or another. The lyrics have absolutely no depth whatsoever, and the listener can basically just laugh at the pitiful writing job JT did of the lyrics. Breathing In Sequence-“ So close your eyes, and kiss me like it's our last time. These lips need medication, these days are dripping poison, girl.” We Are So Last Year-“I just wanted you to know I think about you every night. When I fall asleep you are in my dreams and just like in a movie the one you want to see with a happy ending.” These two examples don’t even begin to justify how bad of a lyrical job the whole album is, but hopefully the point got across.

What really kills this album is the fact that there’s not really one song that could qualify as a good quality single. ]If Only You Were Lonely is clearly a huge step back from The Silence In Black and White, believe it, or not. I truly thought this would at least be an average album, but it seems that Hawthorne Heights are only popular because they got lucky with their hit song Ohio Is For Lovers. Maybe this time around they will fall to the bottom of the hole, and ten years from now be looked on as only one hit wonders.

1.5/5 Very Poor