October 2020 Feature Release - The Revolution Edition

It's now October which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We're really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don't be shy.

This month's feature release for The Revolution is 2001's classic "No Wings to Speak Of" E.P. from Charlotte-based metalcore outfit Hopesfall.

https://metal.academy/releases/1842

I'm just going to copy my review here:

I don't have much to say about Hopesfall and their second official record, No Wings to Speak Of, a short four song EP from 2001. What I will say is that if you go into this album expecting the same metalcore experience you got from Converge and their album, Jane Doe, from the same year, boy are you in for a surprise. These songs feature a much cleaner production quality and some very pretty songwriting, both during the albums soft and loud passages. The loud portions are anchored by some very sweet octave melodies in the guitar. The vocals are solid from Jay Forest during his screams, but his clean singing does lag a little bit. Not that it's bad, I rather enjoyed "Open Hands To The Wind" and "The End Of An Era", but they do sound pitchy at times. A bit of a shame since they typically appear overtop of tighter instrumentals.

The only real thing that I can critique this album for is how similar it sounds to so many other post-hardcore/metalcore albums that would precede in the years following. Given that Hopesfall is mostly remembered as a mediocre band at best by most critics, I doubt this EP could possibly be "legendary". But for a brief moment, Hopesfall had the sound that defined an entire decade of post-hardcore/metalcore music. And it just so happens to be the kind of metalcore that I immediately fall for. It's short and sweet, does not overstay its welcome, the worst elements are not held on to for an extended period of time, and in some cases are even lifted up by other strong elements, and is just a lot of fun.

8/10

Wow! My backlog of releases to check out must be really getting out of hand if I'm only now getting around to listening to one of the October 2020 feature releases I personally selected in Charlotte-based metalcore outfit Hopesfall's 2001 "No Wings To Speak Of" EP. Thankfully, I've ended up finding it to be yet another in a long line of really interesting feature releases for The Revolution though. It's not the most extreme of metalcore records. In fact, I'd suggest that it's a stretch to call it a metalcore record at all with the majority of the run time being made up of a melodic brand of post-hardcore that's built around some splendid & quite sophisticated guitar work. The four-song, 20-minute format is perfectly suited to this sort of accessible song-writing with no room being left for filler & the instrumentation is really pretty hard to fault, particularly the excellent post-rock inspired clean sections & reasonably complex guitar arpeggios. Unfortunately the over-the-top, screamy vocal performance lets the team down a touch as it fits pretty comfortably into the bracket of being pretty generic for the metalcore genre. His general tone sounds fairly immature in my opinion but that's not enough to thwart my attempts at indulging in what is a fine example of its type & I'd recommend "No Wings To Speak Of" to all fans of high quality metalcore & post-hardcore.

For fans of Skycamefalling, Poison The Well & Underøath.

4/5

Andi, you should be all over this one.

Thanks Daniel, I look forward to giving this release a listen and a review. My Revolution expansion shall continue yet again...

Cheers for the rec, Daniel! Here's my review summary:

Hopesfall is an alt-hardcore band that had a more metalcore sound 20 years before this review. They were signed to Trustkill Records, an infamous record label that took their own name seriously. This EP, No Wings to Speak of acts as a bridge in the 3-year gap between their debut The Frailty of Words and The Satellite Years. The band's Christian-themed debut is an under-recorded under-promoted album that failed to spread through a greater audience. The EP No Wings to Speak of is a greater display of their earlier work with underground spirit dug into the surface. And when I finally got the chance to listen, it was indeed a jaw-dropping experience! Hopesfall were, besides Skycamefalling and Underoath, one of the earliest metalcore hybrid bands, mixing the genre with emo and post-hardcore, and slight hints at the indie rock that would dominate their sound in the mid-2000s and beyond, all in dense sound layers. Despite this hybrid, their main focus isn't on metalcore's moshing chaos, but rather on smooth beauty in their sound. These 4 songs are harmoniously written compositions while still using heavy grooves and breakdowns in the song structures. Heavy but mellow compared to what their previous record label Takehold Records had then. The band stays strong with emotional chords and beautiful riffs overlapped with harsh vocals in spiritual purity. The emotion in this album is especially proven in "The End of an Era", a 7-minute epic of beauty and fury, reaching its climax with a soft gentle instrumental passage, and if you have that part seamlessly repeat without any of the heavier ones, that would be excellent meditation music. No Wings to Speak of is more suitable for a night drive with yourself or friends than just a live show. With music filled with brilliance, beauty and a breakdown or a few, metalcore youngsters like myself would absolutely love it!

5/5