Review Summary: It's all about moderate climates, you gotta be cold and be hot for sure.
The UK hardcore scene has been killing it lately. With bands like More Than Life and Departures dropping albums way better than anything from the states, (ahem Defeater) any band from the UK wanting to stick out needs to bring their A-game, which is what Climates have done with their debut EP
What Means The Most. Climates is the fresh faced new kid trying to join the already crowded party that is UK hardcore, and
What Means The Most serves as a great appetizer for the party they are sure to become a major player in.
Climates sound like the other bands in their scene but with a little injection of lead guitar type stuff reminiscent of Counterparts, adding a lot to the melody department. Even for a genre called melodic hardcore, Climates are too melodic for their own good.. There's not a lot of dissonance or grit to be found on this record, which is going to be a big problem for a lot of hardcore fans who want their music to be, well, hardcore. Another problem that piles on with the too much melody gripe is the over use of clean interludes. It even goes so far that the track "Chance & Courage" ends with a clean interlude, that transitions into a track called "Interlude." That's a bit overkill if you ask me. Besides these minor gripes, this is a great beginning for a band that is sure to be excellent once they find their own voice and refine their sound.
Most of the big names in melodic hardcore's debut EPs weren't even as good as this one, so Climates don't have to change a whole lot to become a leader in the scene.
What Means The Most is a bit derivative, but to be fair most bands are on their debut release, and if Climates manages to scale back on the melody and find a way to not rely on interludes as much they are surely going places.
