Yet another review! It’s the weirdest feeling, that after all the time that’s gone into it, people are finally hearing what we’ve created, and enjoying it as much as we do. You are all amazing <3

samuelmickey:

Ground Dweller

Full Album/Track By Track Review

Hands Like Houses’ relatively new US career is just about to begin. I haven’t been listening to this band very long-only since the beginning of February/end of January-and from the first note in Antarctica, I’ve been hooked. By far, Hands Like Houses is the best band on Rise based on their different sound alone. Not to mention the copious amounts of talent each member weaves into  each song. They play together and compliment each other in a way simulating a really fantastic live experience packed into a tight little mp3.

• Antarctica: The record as a whole just kind of washes over you in waves, but I think that if it hadn’t started with this song, it wouldn’t have worked as well as it does. This song switches between slow and soothing melodies and really quick, upbeat hi hat grooves. It’s fantastic and really fun to listen to. Finally Rise has some really, actually dynamic songwriters who can actually pull off double/drastically different vocal tracks.

• Don’t Look Now, I’m Being Followed. Act Normal: ‘Act Normal’ really jumps in quick. It’s super fast-paced and packed to the brim with jazzy chords/delays. This song hints at the really interesting strum patterns you’ll hear drizzled throughout the record. Each song will generally ‘take a break’ at some point, but this one has one of the biggest affects when it jumps back in. With that being said, the unpredictability of this song specifically is, again, super fun to listen to.

• This Ain’t No Place For Animals: The almost 8-bit start reminiscent of Minus The Bear gives Trenton a lot of room for atmosphere and makes the real push into the song intensely dramatic. This song is definitely the heaviest so far. Bells toll and yells echo over what would normally be screaming breakdowns from other Rise bands into a catchy chorus that has their name written all over it. For people unsure of which song to try and start of with, ‘Animals’ is probably the way to go. 

• Spineless Crow: This song definitely has a ton of hype going for it. At first listen, I wasn’t sure why-the more I listen, the more I hop on board. It seemed like another solid song from Hands. ‘Crow’ takes a turn for the ridiculously awesome and cool to listen to (As I wrote that, I had to just re-listen to what I was talking about because the bridge of this song is just that amazing). By far, the best bridge of any song I’ve heard in several years. The vocals and guitars and just everything for the last 90 seconds of this song come together to make one of the best songwriting decisions… You know? Just go listen to this one.

• Starving To Death In The Belly Of A Whale: This song has everything great about the last 90 seconds of the last for the whole three minutes and thirty four seconds. Definitely a favorite. Listen to this one for all the reasons I listed above for ‘Crow’. It’s big, it’s loud, and it’s catchy. There’s nothing not to like.

• A Clown And His Pipe: ‘Clown’ starts off like a really heavy A Day To Remember Song, but transitions to a really sick delay lead that’s super reminiscent of Circa Survive songwriting styles. As We Could Light A Fire graces your hungry eardrums, the chorus of this song becomes your favorite almost instantly. I cannot get over how great of a vocalist Trenton is. He’s like everything good about what Isles and Glaciers was, but way more controlled and decisive. He seriously knows what he’s doing. 

• A Definition Of Not Leaving: Now that I’ve raved about Trenton so much already, here’s a track almost solely dedicated to him and what he can do with his voice. We already knew how great he fit over heavy, nasty, and jazzy, but now we get a taste of how he sounds over an electronic track. Definitely worth the listen.

• Lion Skin: My review for this song will be just like every other great review of it. If you’re reading this in the first place, you already know how good it sounds, I’m sure.

• One Hundred: ‘One Hundred’ starts off like it’s almost going to turn into a really poppy All Time Low song. It sort of does… If All Time Low knew how to write dynamically and had loads of delay and really cool vocal melodies that weave in and out of guitar parts and drums that accent everything cool about what I just listed. It sounds like a song to listen to after a really heavy day of rain. I think the only way you can tell that this is recorded the first time they went at it is how the vocals are sort of muffled sounding. The rest of the vocals all sound so crisp and present. This one, not so much-I think that works though. The bridge of this song lets the music do all the talking it needs to without vocals taking over. I’m listening while writing and this song travels all over the place. It’s awesome. Again, go take a listen.

• Watchmaker: Matty Mullins mixed with Hands Like Houses. That is all.

• The Sower: The electronic version of this song is so ridiculously sick. Insanely well written, it oozes every bit of talent each member has to offer. As a closer, I don’t think they could have made a better choice compared to the rest of the songs on this album based on sound and context. This song should be on everyones top three favorites of all time list.

So basically, buy this album for yourself, your friends, your mothers, your fathers, your dogs, your cars, your hands, your houses and get them over to the United States so we can see a band worth seeing be successful so far from home.