Review: Heartriot

Heartriot
“.Hands.Blood.Freedom.”
(For the Core)

Heartriot does their best to convince you they’re a metal band, but don’t let them fool you-there’s more core in their sound than metal.  While they do their best with the inferior equipment they were obviously using (some of the backing vocals sound so forced and fake sounding it’s pathetic), there’s something about “Hands” that just misses the mark.  The seven-track EP produces plenty of energy-“Time Exists in Age” is a killer song with enough harmonies that someone might mistake it for a discarded Strung Out demo track.  And that’s about the nicest thing I can say about Heartriot.

Nothing they do really sucks but at the same time it’s just more of the same old metalcore formula with quasi-political lyrics (“It’s the twenty-first century/ Still we’re living with slavery” [wow, thanks for the insight guys, way to get to the bottom of that]) complementing jagged guitars and quick beats.  It’s not bad but it’s certainly not good and won’t be until these poor kids from Tehachapi get someone to mix their stuff properly.