Review Summary: Breakdowns well done, singing done to perfection, synth makes you wanna dance, what more could you ask for
6 of 18 thought this review was well written“Post-hardcore+metal-core+pop-chorus’s”, is a dying genre, few bands can still be original with the amount of material that as been released, as well many of them still feel the need to rid there albums with an unnecessary amount of breakdowns and seizure-trance moments filled with auto-tuned vocals that come out of absolutely no where. Her Death and After, while not accomplishing “groundbreaking” original, still are not stale nor boring like 80% of bands to release these days. The band, who has still not released a full length Album, has two EP’s floating around; this one Hot and Bothered is the more recent of the two, and it is phenomenal.
The EP starts off with the horribly titled (though all the songs have horrible titles) Dubstep’s A Fad, But Disco’s Forever, which takes a no holds bard approach and instantly bursts into action with Marcus Hilliker’s strained high pitched screams. This tracks really shows everything that is Her Death and After’s strengths. With the high pitched screams and death growls, accompanied with Sean Murray’s not whiny but light, haunting vocals, Synth work that sounds familiar to Motion City Soundtrack, and catchy-as-*** guitar riffs, and of course the occasional breakdown, Everything that is Her Death and After.
Unlike most bands in the genre, they do not over do the use of breakdowns, there implanted as mosh parts instead of just filler for lazy, untalented guitarist. Also they there synth is used to make certain parts juicer and more poppy and danceable, instead of strait trance moments that are forced and unnecessary. The guitar work is technical enough to keep it above average, but there’s nothing to intricate here. I want to stress how good the vocals are here, no vocoder, no auto-tune, no pitch correction, he strait belts his high soaring notes to perfection. The screaming, while not over done, almost feels like it doesn’t fit completely, they’d be better off with an I See Stars(and I don’t mean the auto-tune and such) vocal approach and make the screamer the secondary option. Hopefully with a better producer they will take that approach.
Although this EP is very good, it’s not perfect; sometimes Sean’s vocals seem to have the same rhythm as past songs, and feels like he’s forcing some change. This leads directly into my second gripe, songs seem to run together at times and you question if the song has even changed.
As long as Joey Sturgis (or Rise Records) doesn’t stick his dirty metal core formula ridden hands into this band, they will stay fresh and un-corrupted, and hopefully put more hope into a dying genre.
