Hell Is For Heroes - 'The Neon Handshake' (EMI)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
We've said it before and we'll say it again: Hell is for Heroes are currently making some of the most exhilarating, incendiary and passionate music this side of the Atlantic. Rewardingly too, 'The Neon Handshake', the London quintet's debut album, should cement their position as one of Britain's premier rock acts.
Having released their debut single nearly two years ago - a double A-side, featuring the soaring 'Sick/Happy' and the sledge-hammer riffed 'Cut Down' - many guitar-crunching fans will already be well-acquainted with the 'Heroes colossal, five-strong army zeal. 'I Can Climb Mountains', 'Nightvision' and 'You Drove Me To It' (the latter perhaps forming the LP's highlight) all further enhanced the boys' credentials in the singles-market, some tipping into the reaches of the top-40 hit parade... So, that this would be a rock album of real, bountiful quality therefore, was never in doubt.
From the full-throttle opener 'Five Kids Go', HIFH gigantically storm through twelve tracks of fervid boisterousness. The key to their success lies within their realisation (in the same manner as their touring buddies, Hundred Reasons) that emo must retain a sense of melody and skill for it to succeed; tunes should not be sacrificed in favour of all-out intensity... But, goodness, are Hell is for Heroes intense.
And the above is largely due to the band's diminutive frontman, Justin Schlossberg; sure, what he may lack in height, he more than makes up for with his gargantuan-proportioned vocal-chords - truly, this is a fella that sings as though his life depends on it. And that's rather a good thing, when you consider the lyrical inclinations contained in the average HIFH track: take the cascading ballad, the simply-titled 'Slow Song', or '...Mountains', Justin's' impassioned howl a brutally required thing when describing a burning desire for rebirth after being 'strung from hell'. Oh yes: Hell is for Heroes mean it, baby.
But what this means for 2003 in the grand picture? A thunderously unmissable, full-length introduction to a band that could inspire mass-excitement on a fittingly dazzling scale. Carry out a CD-shopping spree and see for yourself.
Artists in this article: Hell Is For Heroes
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