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Hopesick

Look What You've Done (2004)
SoFla

Reviewer Rating:

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

Published on July 8th 2005

Singing is a delicate art, full of triumphs and failures. The amount of possible inflections and variations on a person's voice is almost unlimited, but it’s obvious to a listener who and who was not born into a talented gene pool. Take the Rat Pack, arguably the finest example of American singing talent of the 20th century, with voices that are to this day instantly identifiable, and then pit them against a singer from a random member of the current lot of faux emo bands; there’s absolutely no comparison. Bert McCracken couldn’t shine Dean Martin’s shoes, the same as Hopesick’s Brad Buckenheimer isn’t fit to lick the ground that Ol’ Blue Eyes walked on.

Regardless, Buckenheimer and the other four members that make up this musical travesty have put out a record, and the world is worse off for it. Obviously, attempting to put some cash in their wallets through the waves made by bands like Matchbook Romance and Hawthorne Heights, Hopesick’s brand of singing and screaming has literally made me reach for the Ibuprofen. Let me be absolutely fair, though; the group of musicians assembled behind these vocals don’t scratch the eardrums; in fact, they lay down a pretty solid basis. I liked a lot of the riffs that I heard, as the two-guitar approach works better for these guys than any other aspect of the music. They’ve got the whole metalcore style down pat, though I’m really not sure just how much of a compliment that is. Quality guitar interplay aside, there’s nothing subtle or inviting about the vocals or lyrics.

If you want to tell the untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got to find a language. Which goes for film as well as prose, for documentary as well as autobiography. Use the wrong language, and you're dumb and blind.

That quote does not belong to Hopesick, but Indian writer Salman Rushdie. My intuition tells me he wasn’t referring to faux emo about the time that was written, but potential interpretations can be pegged to this music. The voice here is one that lacks conviction, it lacks emotion, and it lacks heart. What’s a voice without heart? Just some crappily written lyrics and five guys hopping the nearest trend. I’m not sure this review is accurately conveying just how awful the singing on this record is, so I’ll give you a point of reference; it’s worse than the lyrical content. “My life has become a living tragedy / So much for second chances, 'cause the first chance I get I’ll be wishing you weren’t here.” Apparently, these guys managed to break into my house, and steal an old notebook of mine, containing lyrics I wrote in the 9th grade, because that’s about the style and substance of them. For the fans of screaming, there’s some on this disc, but it feels about as forced as the rest of the emotion on this album.

I don’t know, maybe I’m in the minority, but when I listen to emotional music, I like there to be some sincerity there, rather than some guys with matching jet black hair and girls jeans talking about suffocation. Take out the singing, and this record is definitely tolerable, but its inclusion sinks this album faster than a stick of dynamite on a canoe. Maybe these guys do have some real emotion to get out, but all I’m hearing is teenage angst and the sound of cash registers.

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Anchors (July 11, 2005)

Unless you're talking about Explosions In The Sky or Tristeza, chances are, the singe is the most important part of the band. So if he/she's bad, that's going to sorely hurt the entire record. Case in point;

This album.

And if you're going to insult the review, make sense for me, and I'd be more likely to listen to what you have to say.

"They aren't breaking ground or walking paths."

I'm pretty sure that anyone can walk a path, you don't have to do anything even remotely new to walk a path. Blaze a trail, maybe? Nice try.

"Your analogy was lame as was your review that told very little about the actual album and more about what you thought the album sounded like."

That's what a review is, buddy. You say what you think the album sounds like. It's called an opinion, which is the entire basis for the review, and mine was that it sucked. I don't need to detail every chord progression and drum fill to tell people to stay away from this album.

Anonymous (July 9, 2005)

It not that I dont thin ktis a valid point, but to the extent you took it to, you really mad it seem like it was a deaf man with no tounge singing for the band. You really went all out to attack his vocals and i thought was pretty funny. It just seemed like you must've had that little opening for a while. You really should learn to rate bands on an overall not just because you think the vocalist is cookie cutter. You drool over the signer from Alexisonfire, and who are you kidding if you think those vocals are anything to be amazed by. They aren't breaking ground or walking paths.

But to not stray away to much from my original argument. Your analogy was lame as was your review that told very little about the actual album and more about what you thought the album sounded like.

Sorry bro, "yo lame".

Anchors (July 9, 2005)

If you don't think commenting on a bands vocalist is a valid point, I'd absolutely love to see what you think is.

Anonymous (July 9, 2005)

Its not so bad. It sounds alittle like early Drexel. Kinda neat.

And you've probably been wanting to use that stupide vocalist opening for a while now huh? Seriously man, listening to every band reviewd on this site...none of them are nearly close to amazing signers. Really dude, learn how to make an actually point without sounding like a goofball.

Lame review from a lamer dude.

notfeelingcreative (July 9, 2005)

These guys were slated to open the A Global THreat/F-Minus show a while back here in Orland0, we waited and F-Minus/AGT never showed up (it was a 2pm matinee show). Can't say I was sad to miss these guys, though.

Anonymous (July 8, 2005)

Am I listening to the same band? I don't understand how this is either emo or screamo. You people don't make any sense.

stevejonestherealbones (July 8, 2005)

genre: emoscreamo

this shit is so fucking horrible. look i'm giving it a 1

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

Anonymous (July 8, 2005)

i don't care about this band. never heard them, but this review is terrible. was this guy writing a paper for his creative writing class? cmon, tell me something worthwhile about the band, not a bunch of literary gimmicks.

sickboi (July 8, 2005)

Hahahahaha, bitching about reviews, cute.

slippy (July 8, 2005)

What a stupid fucking name.

theundergroundscene (July 8, 2005)

whoa whoa whoa

just because i don't review my life away doesn't mean you need to get nasty with me

honest question dude

inagreendase (July 8, 2005)

only four reviews this time, Anchors? boo

He has 34 in the queue and accounts for about a fifth of them all. I could do an all-Anchors week of reviews if I really wanted to, it just depends on how many "big names" things I have to post.

brian, was my dead season review really that bad to not get posted in three weeks?

More like, your Dead Season review was submitted on 6/17, and Anchors has exactly 11 that were submitted earlier.

theundergroundscene (July 8, 2005)

brian, was my dead season review really that bad to not get posted in three weeks?

Anonymous (July 8, 2005)

they are worse than the review clams.....

Anonymous (July 8, 2005)

I'm listening to a bunch of songs right now, and they're not nearly as bad as this review claims. I can't even figure out how the "emo" tag fits in here. This sounds like pretty decent melodic hardcore to me. Like Break the Silence, only better.
But The Used? I don't see the comparison at all.

Anonymous (July 8, 2005)

only four reviews this time, Anchors? boo. oh, and this shit really does suck, i hate to rag on bands, but i couldn't even listen to a whole song