Review Summary: Just a band trying to re-invent their genre, without the trying or re-inventing part.
I took a few minutes out of my previous life to stare at the album art for
Arguments, it wasn’t that anything really caught my eye, I just found my attention fixed to the image. What we see is a grassy plain, the endless ocean and empty sky just taking over the background. On this grassy plain rests a wooden door, whether it’s stuck in the ground or just magically floating there I don’t know, but on both sides of the door we see arms reaching out and around to the front. These are not healthy sets of arms, their as pale as can be and horribly thin. It appears as if these arms are reaching around and searching for a doorknob; a method of escaping whatever lies behind that door. The more I thought about it my psychological mindset kicked in, and I realized that these arms reaching out from behind this door could in fact belong to the members of Another Hero Dies, just reaching out for a way to escape the boundaries of their genre (symbolized by the door without a handle). The problem relates for both the arms in the art and the band, breaking down the walls around them just seems out of reach.
To say that there was any real expectations for the debut from this New England metal core/post-hardcore groups debut would be a lie, but a recommendation from a trustworthy friend was enough of a reason to at the least give
Arguments a download plus a few listens. It wasn’t long into that first initial listen where my main conclusion was considered, but I believe in second chances and it just got worse from there on out. There’s nothing about this band that’s truly bad as musicians, they have a familiar style and know the sound they’re headed for yet everything just comes off as boring. The only real word to explain this. The production is dull, the execution is flat and their songs are far too generic to even hit a “so bad it’s good” level. There is a lot to be learned from this album, find a better studio with a bit more of a creative hand in things, breakdown less and riff more, and let’s not forget about being a bit more original with your intro track.
‘Awktoo, the Wizard’ is an example of both the terrible sense of humor this band carries and their serious lack of original ideas. This minute long breakdown intro isn’t enough to even get the slightest bob out of your head or your attention span focused on the wall ahead of you. Following suit is another set of forgettable tracks with stupid ass titles such as; ‘Moshed Brotatoes’, ‘Boof He Ruptured It’ and ‘No Thanks Tom Hanks’. Each of these songs are simple minded metal core experiments that do nothing you don’t expect, from the breakdowns to the small and feeble choruses, nothing feels exciting or anywhere near fresh. We get a tiny bit of riffage in each song, but it’s nothing more than a simply combined, easy to learn beginner riff that are barely enough to get your attention focused on them. ‘[L]ego lord’ features an appearance by former AA! Singer Johnny Franck but took me a bit to make me realize he was actually in the track, but it doesn’t help the song in anyway and can just as easily be ignored as the song itself.
The second half of the album shows the slightest bit of entertainment value though, don’t get too excited and think that we actually have some good songs here, they’re just a little easier to handle than the rest. ‘Brobocop’ shows the true potential of vocalist Ryan Prough, whose low and high screams sound great when layered on top of each other, and his forceful mid-level scream is a bit impressive to say the least. The energy of this song is the highest it hits on the whole album, and while the album never gets better than this, I could’ve deal with this through all ten tracks. Again from this point on we run into tons of generic riffs, disappointing breakdowns and music that barely allows you to keep listening past the current track.
The entire psychological interpretation of the album art was the most entertaining moment during my first listen and research into Another Hero Dies. I just keep noticing how bad this central genre is becoming, besides the chunk of bands who are actually great, most of this is just ***. Each of these bands are as boring and laughable as the next and it just seems as if this trend will not stop. It’s around every corner we find another copy cat and I actually semi enjoy it in a way, with each download I lose space too I get the slightest bit of entertainment out of and look forward to the next great achievement in the genre. Sooner or later someone is going to do something worth mentioning, everyone else is going to love it and it’s from that moment on all this copying repeats, it’s an endless cycle. Keep reaching for that door handle guys, it’s far too out of reach.
