Signs Of HopeThis five-piece comes from Southern CT and their singer is the label owner of Detonate records. They formed in 2003 with the intentions of writing straight to the point youth crew hardcore with a positive message. Previously to releasing this full length, they released a 3-song demo.
There are ten short bursts of youth crew hardcore done the only way a CT band knows to; fast, sing alongs, some brief mosh parts and ultra-posi lyrics. The shit isn't bad but it's just so by the books. I will say this the drummer seems like he should be in a heavier band after hearing him shine in the last track, "Another Song" where the song ends on heavy breakdown with pummeling double bass, a complete departure from the rest of their material.
I'm not even going to bother going into detail about the lyrical themes of this album because if you have heard one CT youth crew album you've heard them all. The song titles are all the description needed: Look Inside, Breaking It Down, For The Core, By Your Side, Who You Are, etc,.
The album was recorded by Greg of Risk Taken at Silver Bullet Studios and mastered by Alan Douches (damn this dude must be a busy guy). Overall there is little to complain about, the guitars sound good, the bass tone is solid, the drums sound real good and the vocals are good. No complaints.
The layout looks like a modernized version of the typical youth crew album covers coming out in ‘88. The front cover is a blue silhouetted live shot of the band with a simple lighter blue text is used for the band logo and the album title right beneath it is in yellow. The booklet is standard; the lyrics are displayed over the three panels with not much going on in the background except for a barely visible live photo placed on one of the pages. The best part of the layout is the map of the bands hometown area in the tray.
Rating: 3/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: First and Foremost and Another Song
Synopsis: Another youth crew album about hardcore pride, unity and etc,. This genre is so over saturated that to stand out a band really has to have either a) a great vocalist b) awesome lyrics or c) ex-members of notable bands. I wouldn't say this band has any. It's good by the book youth crew hardcore that is relies on the same lyrics and progressions that bands have been using for over 20 years now.