Review Summary: Another Heart In Hand album, but a better Heart In Hand album.
Heart In Hand; the hopeless romantics of the hardcore scene have released two very solid albums in which they’ve established a distinctive sound and made it their own. Now with the release of their third album, A Beautiful White, Heart In Hand seek to solidify and perfect the sound that made them so different in the first place.
Heart In Hand jump straight into their classic sound in "Mae", the first track on the album and it sets the album off to a good start. The song is powerful and has wonderful guitar segments during breakdowns. From the get go, songs feel more structured; as if they have been arranged and composed to elicit as much emotion from the listener as they can. Breakdowns are well placed and not too frequent and interesting guitar melodies and intricate drum-playing work together well to prevent the very small range of vocals Charlie Holmes uses from becoming tiresome. The drum work is particularly strong in "Jasmine". Gang vocals are used but not overused. I’d describe the use of gang vocals in this album as “short and sweet” in that they’re only used to emphasize certain important words or phrases and I think this works best to pinpoint key emotional highlights of the lyrics in this album.
Individual songs on this album also feel a lot more progressive rather than consistent. Throughout Almost There I felt a lot of the time that songs were good but felt too samey throughout to back up their length. The effective breakdown placement, increased use of choruses and well-sectioned instrumentation help to sustain individual songs throughout A Beautiful White through their run time.
Lyrically, this album exactly fits the Heart In Hand niche, hopelessly romantic, desperate and despairing. To be honest I don’t really expect or want anything else from Heart In Hand, they stick to what they’re good at and they write these types of lyrics very well. Charlie Holmes feels more aggressive or bitter with his vocals in this album compared to Almost There and therefore makes this album feel closer to Only Memories. With the much more structured and sectioned feel to the songs, this serves to further establish the hard-hitting emotional delivery throughout the album.
Heart In Hand make an attempt to differentiate different songs from eachother in this album. Songs such as "Poison Pen Letters" and "New Years Eve" provide a faster, more aggressive tone whereas tracks such as "Regain.Recover.Reprise" and "My Heart Belongs In Denmark" provide a more slow intimate feel to them. Clean vocals are also added (and they work well) in "My Heart Belongs In Denmark". This keeps the album diverse but maintains Heart In Hand’s key established overall sound.
The only real issue I found with this album is that I found the interlude to be unnecessary and, in fact, it disrupted the flow of the album. The album feels harsh and bitter but this interlude feels pure and sorrowful. Perhaps a violin interlude would have worked better.
Heart In Hand have created another Heart In Hand Album. It feels more thought out, more consistent and more finely tuned than Almost There; as if Heart In Hand are now more comfortable and more confident with their niche sound than ever. So, to slightly adjust my statement, Heart In Hand have created a better Heart In Hand album.
