Review Summary: A fun and acceptable hardcore album for the beginners.
Creating a hardcore album can be almost too easy. Even back when it was first imagined in the thoughts of youth in the 70s and 80s, hardcore was never originally supposed to be an overly planned out genre. Hell, most hardcore musicians can’t seem to get out of the basic riff/chord/riff/chord technique and it still shows itself in today’s modern scene. While Bay Area hardcore At Our Heels might not necessarily lack in the musically ability of their members, their album ‘
Misanthropy and Godlessness’ is a testament of what can happen when musical creativity is put on the backburner and when the term ‘cookie cutter’ has never seemed more appropriate.
Now, before I go any farther, it might seem a bit too harsh to judge At Our Heels too much. '
Misanthropy and Godlessness' is by no means a ‘bad’ album. As a matter of fact, it is quite a catchy number. Songs like ‘
The Old Gloomies’ is a throwback to the easier metalcore types of Himsa and the short lived track ‘
The Recluse’ is about as catchy as any Cancer Bats songs, enough to get the average listener banging and grooving to the easy d-beat inspired music. At Our Heels do a fine job at keeping the listener engaged throughout, if only during those more heavier moments of the album. Something that most hardcore bands these days can do without even blinking twice is provide a soundtrack to the more angry and emotional moments of our lives and At Our Heels are exactly one of those types of bands. However, it the types of hardcore bands that can stay with us through the thick and thin, through the good times and the bad, that are truly the special ones and At Our Heels still hasn’t found that place just quite yet.
So sure, At Our Heels has created a very fun, albeit short (for thirteen tracks it clocks in at merely twenty six minutes) album that can be catchy, loud and worth a couple listens. But creatively, they don’t really get anywhere as none of the songs provided by ‘
Misanthropy and Godlessness’ are enough to carry a listener over beyond more a few listens before boredom sets in. So while the formula is tried and true, At Our Heels might need to rethink the way about how they plan on keeping the listeners attention for more than an hour of our time. Fun for the average listener, bland and tasteless for the fans.
