With Honor are:
Jay Aust - Guitar
Jeff Aust - Guitar
Jack Caron - Bass
Todd Mackey - Vocals
John Ross - Drums
If any of you reading this review know, With Honor Demo was completely outstanding. They have always been the type of hardcore band that gets you pumped to some level and always pleased me to listen. Pretty much they are the better sounding hardcore bands in my opinion. With Todd's vocals added the volatile mix of fast riffs, fast as hell drumming and solid bass lines you had it going. On that note, in my listening to this album I still stay mixed on how good of a job With Honor did with it, it leaves me thoroughly mixed in opinion. Especially in the drum department, add the fact I'm a drummer also. Anyways review. EDIT, I changed the review a bit to better help readers.
The album gets off with an immediate start with the song Like Trumpets. This is a great album opener and really got me to listening to the whole cd. Fast paced and ruthless, just like the With Honor I expected. Now going into the album they start changing tempos within the songs which really kills the aggressive "I'm trying to blow your face away" feeling With Honor has. Songs like 20 Strong, Bottoms Up, and Up and Out just slow the feel of it. It still sounds aggressive but it's not the same as the rest on the album which does have its high points.
For the most point the guitar riffs are fast and sound crisp, although at some points you just stop and ask "why bother having two guitarists". Either way Jay and Jeff do a nice combination with riffs that add energy to the songs. Jack I'm most disappointed in really, his bass lines are overshadowed completely. Why? It's a good question but i just don't really feel him in most songs except for In A Bottle. Todd's voice has notably changed to a more controlled yell and his lyrics are you can say straight edge and/or straight edge fashion. John adopts a new style, where I'm pretty sure almost anyone can tell he plays the same beat in most songs. But he does a good job in keep the energy with Jay and Jeff.
That’s another point to bring up, there is just not enough diversity in between the songs. I'm not expecting solos or any awesome double tapping or anything else for that fact. But it's just always either "Hey I'm in your Fucking face" or "Hey, take a listen". And for some reason "Hey, take a listen" prevails here.
The pros to the album are those songs that do seem to standout and just come into your face. They do this well hitting you hard with fast heavy riffs, gang vocals and the fast beat that makes you want to mosh in the middle of the parking lot. This first comes up with Like Trumpets were you can just feel the energy pounding in the song. Closets is a great example of vocals and gang vocals hitting you with the riffs and fast beat. With Honor could of turned around the other tracks with it, but there is a lot more tempo changes within the others.
Recommended Tracks:
Like Trumpets
Elevens
Closets
Small Dreams
This is my first review any comments on it will be greatly appreciated.
