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Unsacred Hearts

Unsacred Hearts (2004)
Serious Business

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Adam
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on May 28th 2004

The material on the Unsacred Hearts' debut EP follows the time honoured tradition of rock songs about rock. That always comes with the potential of sounding silly (we all have nightmares about bad hair metal where the main subject was "RAWK!") but as this is a fairly charming and skilled band their subject matter is delivered with a good deal of reverence and conviction.

The band shows off a number of influences over these 7 songs. At the core this has the feel of early New York City punk rock, but the band dips into moments of folk, blues and soul, 60s mod and even a bit of outlaw country before the record's run it's course. "Stuck Inside A Mobile Home With The Mansion Blues Again" is an infectious amalgam of post-punk dissonance, garage rock and folky storytelling. It sounds fresh and original yet it's deeply rooted in the band's influences. The song's about an old busker claiming that Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is the only Dylan song in which the title doesn't appear in the lyrics (it's not). Weird subject matter for a rock song? Sure, but the Unsacred Hearts make it sound damn important nonetheless. "1978" is a tribute to the NYC punk scene of that year, one that the band admits they were "born too late" to witness. They wax nostalgic for the time of Johnny Thunders and berate the current trends in punk rock (the line "I don't want your diary stuck in a fucking song" makes me smile). "We Were A Band" is another high point, showing off well integrated country influences in a tune that you'll be singing for hours afterwards.

I'm really excited about this band; there's less than 15 minutes of material on this disc yet I could easily keep talking about it. The lead track "I Was Raised To Be Polite & Kind" is barely a minute and a half long and it ends with a guitar solo that feels classic for lack of a better term. It's the ultimate tease and leaves you in such anticipation for what's to come. The same can be said about this EP.

Unsacred Hearts - Stuck Inside A Mobile Home With The Mansion Blues Again

Unsacred Hearts – Plug Me In

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Anonymous (June 3, 2004)

this is stupid

Anonymous (June 2, 2004)

The commenter below is a fucking moron. I like Hot Water Music as well but it's quite likely that the Unsacred Hearts have never heard of them. Pull your head out of your ass and you'll see that HWM isn't exactly well known outside of the punk scene.

Plus it's a fucking campfire, you whiney little bitches, deal with it. No one cares that it sort of looks like the non-distinct logo of some other band.

Anonymous (June 2, 2004)

THIS is really stupid music and they are obviously not that bright to see that their album artwork does kind of hold a strong resemblance to a very popular band(that happens to put this act to shame). Even if they didn't mean to, they ripped off HWM's logo, take the sticks away and add some water and tell me what that is. of course, they ripped their logo off harper row (the book publisher)

Anonymous (June 1, 2004)

way to talk about the music, you losers. this band and this album sounds great

sickboi (June 1, 2004)

I get your point Adam, but come on....look at the damn thing.

Anonymous (May 31, 2004)

actually, hot water music DID invent fire. it's in the bible. also, alkaline trio openly admitted that they were the ones behind the infamous "heart" shape. soooo dirty.

BSD (May 30, 2004)

Everyone knows that in the late 90's AK3 and HWM created the heart shape and fire, respectively.

Anonymous (May 29, 2004)

Hmmm, sounds... decent. Im not sure if I want to buy this or not, It will take some consideration.

TahoeJeff (May 29, 2004)

I do like "plug me in", its pretty catchy. These guys might be worth checking out

TahoeJeff (May 29, 2004)

zing!

shindo (May 28, 2004)

-BEGIN SARCASM- Wow I'm glad my review of what I think is a promising new band is just generating comments from all of our art critics. I'm shocked that the Unsacred Hearts didn't check that the Alkaline Trio has trademarked the heart shape, a wholly original symbol created by Matt Skiba in 1998 after months of prototyping (before which it never appeared in the history of man). Don't even get me started on fire! Lawsuit! -/END SARCASM-

....

-adam

TahoeJeff (May 28, 2004)

seems like everybody had the same idea...because even before I read the rest of the posts couldnt help but think these guys stole the love child of A3 and HWM's logos

some1 (May 28, 2004)

it's a flame. Hot Water Music didn't invent fire. they ripped off cavemen.

Anonymous (May 28, 2004)

Yeah, way to rip off the HWM logo.

sickboi (May 28, 2004)

That cover art looks like something that would have been considered for the A3-HWM split.