Lovehatehero

Just Breathe (2005)

Bryan

Well, let's start this review off by saying I am pleasently surprised about this release. I first heard "The Risk" on Ferret's Progression Through Aggression 2 sampler and just loved the song. After listening to two other songs on purevolume, I was hooked.

I don't know what did it for me, but it might be the fact that they're heavier than a lot of bands in this area. One of the biggest problems with emo and screamo bands is they overuse mute guitars, and any time there is some guitars being played, it's too cliché and generic to really stand out. So while Lovehatehero's guitar work is heavier than a majority of the bands in this genre, the guitars sound a lot better than most other bands. They can contrast for a heavier sound and then throw in some clean, melodic guitars, then speed up the pace and get back to a heavier screamo sound. What works here is the fact that the vocals can go with a good shout to a clean vocal style like Efrem of DBS on the heavier parts, to a really good singing voice when it gets clean. This brings a lot of contrast to the album and makes it better than most on the market.

A perfect example of the statements above is their single, "The Risk," and "A Last Farewell." Each song goes between heavy and clean and the music and vocals nail the transition head on for contrast, which is lacking in many bands. Also, the vocals aren't whiny and the lyrics aren't cheesy shit like "I'll cut my wrists." The design for the CD is extremely nice as well, with a good color scheme and nice images as well.

In the end it kind of makes me mad to see bands like this not get much recognition, while bands like Hawthorne Heights are the next craze. Lovehatehero are a good post-hardcore/screamo band that are deserving of your time because of their musical ability and their ability to be good songwriters and establish contrast. I'd suggest you to buy it if you're into this type of music.