Her Nightmare are a fairly new and up and coming band in the Australian underground hardcore scene. Signed to Resist Records in 2005, they have few demos under their belts, and now a full length LP entitled, No Heaven. No Hell
The Australian underground hardcore scene is running rampant. New bands are popping up nearly everyday (quite an exaggeration) some of them very mediocre, some astounding. Her Nightmare just finished touring with Australia’s arguably most famous and successful hardcore band,
Parkway Drive, and there is a definitely similarity with Her Nightmare’s No Heaven. No Hell and
Parkway Drive’s Killing With A Smile, which was also released around the same time.
This isn’t to say that it is a carbon copy; as there is definitely a lack of melody in No Heaven. No Hell. However I don’t think that is what they were going for. Her Nightmare were definitely going for a much more heavier, in your face type of music and it definitely works for them.
Opening with the track
Burning Bridges, the album starts off heavy. Throaty screams with a heavy guitar riff and drumming behind support the vocals well. There are definitely enough changes in the song to make it remain memorable, with two fantastic breakdowns, one in the middle of the song and the other more to the end. This song will definitely be a crowd favourite, with plenty opportunities to mosh and bang your head to.
The album definitely suffers from repetition, due to the guitars. They do play some great riffs, but they aren’t really the focus of the music, and a lot of it sounds the same. However, there are certain moments, which you will recall when thinking back listening to the album such as the memorable and meaty breakdown in the middle of
Hero along with the fantastic vocals by front man, Baina. There are definitely many times to yell, scream, sing, whatever your vocal chords are capable of along with the words. Which brings me onto my next point.
It may be just me, but lyrics are usually a very important part of music. It has to suit the theme and the music to make sense. There is definitely a lot of hatred and anger in the lyrics, but it is definitely the thing that lacks in the album. Lyrics like
‘Call me what you like, words don’t mean a thing’ from
Burning Bridges definitely don’t leave me impressed, but then again this is hardcore. Lyrics aren’t the main focus, so don’t let that shape your opinion too much of this band.
The middle of the album tends to lack in quality compared to the start of the album, and suffers from the repetition mentioned earlier. However,
Innocent Seven brings back hope. It starts off with a few distorted guitar chords and hits of the drums, a simple yet effective rhythm, when suddenly the guitar changes and switches from guitar to guitar when we hear Baina scream and quickly enter a loud breakdown. This would have to be one of the best songs on the album, and will stick in your head. It ends with screams of
‘No revenge!’ over some heavy guitar. This will definitely be a live favourite.
The album ends on the title track
No Heaven. No Hell. Starts off with a heavy hardcore riff, switches to a drum fill and in comes the tortured screams of Baina. The song ends with the repeated screaming of
‘No Heaven, No Hell!’ until it fades into a silence that has not been heard throughout the whole album. They definitely accomplished their objective of creating an unrelenting hardcore record.
Another problem was that it was pretty short, lasting only 31 minutes. Sure it is a hardcore record, but at least include more than 10 songs, or make them longer. Most of the songs were pretty much around the 3 minute and below mark, with the longest song only coming to 4:16.
Her Nightmare has made a great debut album. In a sea of a million hardcore bands, they would definitely be one of the better ones in the Australian scene. They will always be compared to
Parkway Drive and their first LP
Killing With A Smile, along with every up and coming Australian hardcore band, but Her Nightmare have definitely created a name for themselves with, No Heaven. No Hell.
Lineup
Callum – Drums
Chris – Bass
Baina – Vocals
Chiz – Guitar
Billo - Guitar
Pros
Vocals were extremely heavy and well done.
Breakdowns literally placed in every song.
Excellent debut record
Cons
Very repetitive
Lyrics were sometimes primitive
It’s over extremely quickly
Bass was pretty much non-existent
Recommended Tracks
Burning Bridges
Innocent Seven
No Heaven. No Hell
Hero
Final Rating: 3/5
Links
http://www.hernightmare.com
http://www.myspace.com/hernightmare
http://www.resistrecords.com/
