The CD starts off with "Appreciation." Furious guitars start the song out, while the drum and bass holds the rhythm like a mother holds her new born baby. Then the vocals come on. I'm a very vocal oriented person. The main vocals seem whiny and out of place with the nice melodic beats, fade in's and out's, and melodic choruses. The backing vocals are distorted and transmit a screeching sound when they come in. And what is the song about you ask? "Appreciation" is about being in a band just to be in a band and playing another boring radio song. Although this isn't the typical sound on the radio, this song isn't that far from what a lot of other punk bands are doing. "When Will It Happen?" starts out with some hooky guitar, and continues through the song while the drums enter with a big BANG! and the bass slops its wet and juicy bass lines down in your face. The bass (I'm a big fan of the bass) adds a lot of depth to the song, and the vocals seem to be more organized on this track. "Pop Can Park" starts out with thick guitar and a bassist working his tool like a master of the trade, while the drums are heavier in the mix and pound vigorously into your head. "Youth Anthem" has some more chunky bass, heart pounding drums, and distorted screeching courtesy of the guitars. But when the distorted vocals enter in the whole song is blown to hell. Then the song jumps into normal vocals, and back to the distorted vocals. What a waste of something that could have been good. "Song About Selling Out" is just what the title suggests. Does anyone else seem to notice what I'm seeing? Horace Pinker dwells too much on the fact that there are in deed a lot of bands out there watering down the scene for the money. But where is Horace Pinker with its all original sound? Nothing they are doing hasn't been done before. Although the music goes from decent to exceptional, I think the fact they they're churning out songs that try to give out the message of, "Your fake, but look at us! We do this because we're real. We don't care about money, we can want to make real music," really waters down the music, and makes you think about their intentions.

Their sound isn't all that bad (or original), and sometimes the beat gets quite infectious, and grabs you with it's power. Other times the music is destroyed by the vocals. But sometimes the vocals add to the melody and create a stronger song. This band just differs too much for me to enjoy them to the fullest. They go from poor to good, it just gets too confusing. I give this CD a C.

Hopesfall: A-Types

Hostage Heart, The: The Hostage Heart

[Issue Two // September-October 1997]