ALBUM REVIEW
Hellbound Hearts - Film Noir
Hellbound Hearts - Film Noir
If your musical heart lies firmly in the late 80's hard rock arena then Film Noir by Yorkshire three piece Hellbound Hearts should be a welcome addition to your album collection. There's a refreshing carefree Wildhearts style abandon to the playing on this record, backed up with a solid American down and dirty feel that seems influenced more by the sleaze of LA Guns than the poppier tones of Poison. The vocals would not sound out of place over a Shotgun Messiah track. If you think you've heard all that before, well... you'd be correct. That is exactly where the appeal lies with this record, an album for the rock n' roll purists who like their bands to stay true to the elements that define the genre. Every song overflows with catchy hooks, in the verses as well as the choruses. Each track has a rich production with layered guitars adding great depth to the music. The sound is modern, bright and clear but with plenty of bass. The drums sound big and the vocals sit perfectly in the mix. The whole shebang oozes 'attitude'. Basically, it's a great sounding record!
The album starts with a cello and piano setting a dark tone before Suffering the Radio kicks in as the opening track. An equally impressive Broken Hearted follows, both these songs scoring highly in the singalong chorus stakes. Poor Disguises throws caution to the wind with its double speed punkish blasts before one of the standout tracks on the album, The Light We Cannot See, takes things up a level or two. It is here that we see the class of the band in blazing sonic technicolour; power chords sit over a crunchy throbbing bassline, and stomping drums fill the verses while yet another catchy vocal leads us to a chorus of epidemically infectious proportions. Even the middle breakdown and subsequent build-up are glorious.
The format works for the next track too, Still We Wait, albeit with a much harder edge to the sleazy chug of guitars. Guitarist / frontman Danny Lambert really sings out in this track taking his chorus vocals to a new high. Blood and Wake Up are two free-flowing guitar rockers with lots of raucous bluster that is perfect for bouncing off the walls to. An atmospheric piano introduces the next song, its distanced reverb an interesting juxtaposition to the upfront raw power of We Are All Alone, another standout track featuring a great all round band performance, and more of those irresistible vocal melodies. The energy levels remain high for the four-to-the-floor blast of Fortunes and the full on guitar workout that is final song Silent Horror Movie. The album ends to the mantra of "always set to repeat". With this album, Film Noir by the Hellbound Hearts, those are wise words indeed.
Film Noir is due for release 7th April. You can pre-order it here.
Find out more about Hellbound Hearts at www.hellboundhearts.com
Check out the tracks The Light We Cannot See and Suffering The Radio...
