Trickling singles along the way since their last album release The Rain Just Follows Me, Hawthorne Heights place down another emo stepping stone with newest single 'The Storm'. A band with as much experience and history as Hawthorne Heights (over 20 years if you can believe it) have continued to stay active and relevant even after their two most popular records The Silence In Black And White and If Only You Were Lonely with a continuous wormhole of pop punk, metalcore and their main source of fuel, emo.
Still drawing from their classic sound of heavy riffs lightened up with a pop punk lead melody. Their last single 'Lucerne Valley' from March this year came with an amazingly catchy chorus and some low chords, but no screams from guitarist Mark McMillon like on 'Dandelions' from last year. Fun Fact: McMillion is the only member to take over unclean vocal duty since ex-lead guitarist/unclean vocalist Casey Calvert.
With an electric start, 'The Storm' strikes the ground with a much heavier tone than the two previously released singles. Chaos ensues immediately with starting lyrics “I set fire in my own house, to watch it burn from the inside out” assisted by hard strikes of open notes and octaves. With JT Woodruff's mesmerising vocals and catchy patterns, aided with the help of upbeat, powerful drums (looking at you Poppy) and a zinger of a guitar-lead the vibe quickly changes back and forth between an aggressive hunger to a siren like chorus you can’t help but be drawn to the melody of.
Make sure you’re not holding anything metal or 'The Storm' might zap you back to a high school mp3 player with a file named ‘Ohio_Is_For_Lovers008’. The band have announced their new EP Lost Lights will be released on September 8th.
Words by Ed Atlas @yourfavouritemerchguy
Pre-order Lost Lights here
Stream ‘The Storm’ here
Hawthorne Heights - Lost Lights EP tracklisting
1. The Storm
2. Dandelions
3. Lucerne Valley
4. Empty
5. We Were Never Lost
