Unsigned Band Review – Horns Become Halos

Band Name: Horns Become Halos

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/screaminhbh

Reviewer: Keef

Review:

‘Kisses and Arrows’ – tuneful, melodic – really well constructed track – and when that (presumably female? Hey – you can never be too sure…..) backing singer kicks in, then hell, that’s me sold!! The only downside was that it sounded like the lead vocals was really struggling to pitch at these relatively quiet levels – not disastrously so, but it just seems a little out of his comfort zone. The difference when you get to the climax of the song is really marked – and the two vocals are pretty perfectly balanced….MORE PLEASE!!

And then we move into ‘Pulling me Down’ – fantastic riff, great drums – plenty of screaming – but there’s enough tuneful stuff in there to show off the lead vocals at a range and volume level that’s obviously FAR more in his comfort zone than the quieter parts of track one.

‘The Simplicity of Being Awake’ – errm – OK – catchy title….. Now – it’s not a BAD track by any stretch of the imagination (far from it) – tight, tuneful and pretty well constructed – if maybe a little too ‘complex’ for the sake of it – but it doesn’t have the same sort of instant appeal or focus as the first two tracks, especially when it wanders around so much – and sorry, but the ‘demonic voice’ interlude doesn’t do anything for me……

‘Third Time Isn’t Such a Charm’ – you kind of open yourself up with negative titles – but this isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard either – but I’d say that you need to perhaps diversify a little on the tracks, as (certainly at first listen) they can get a little blurred.

Overall – I think HBH are  a REALLY tight outfit, who play a really cool blend of rock that personally I found enjoyable from the first listen. Yeah, there’s some shouting in there, but that’s backed up by tuneful vocals that show the lead vocalist off as more than a ‘one trick pony’. The musicianship is good, the song construction is fine – if perhaps slightly more complicated than I personally think is needed (not a critisism as such guys – your songs are good enough to not need the time changes)  – but the deal clincher for me is ‘Kisses and Arrows’ – or at least, the last minute or so of it…… I’d pay to see that done live guys!! (Well – I would – but hey, I review stuff, so I’d expect to be on the guest list – but the thought is there)

My ‘top tip’ though (for what it’s worth) – whoever that female vocalist is, I’d run over broken glass to get her in full time and you can certainly have the same sucess as Evanescence did before Amy Lee got it into her head that she could write songs………

Keef

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.