No flat caps or whippets here!
Hailing from California Halifax’s second album finally gets a UK airing after being released Stateside nearly two years ago. Having already played on the Warped tour in the States they are starting to make a name for themselves over here having toured with the likes of Madina Lake.
Put simply Halifax have everything in place to rival the likes of MCR; decent songs, soulful lyrics, radio friendly riffage, and a tailored image. It would be no surprise if this release gives them a real breakthrough in the UK, it’s perfect for the younger end of the teen market.
Halifax have some fine moments on this record, there are some great guitar parts throughout and when these are backed up with big choruses and honest vocal delivery on tracks such as ‘Our Revolution’ they are highly impressive. The problems come when they let just a little too much emo seep into the mix. The vocals become whiny, the guitars generic and it all begins to sound very familiar and rather annoying. This is a shame because the raw talent is evident but it gets overshadowed all too often.
It’s a strong start though with the first three tracks weighing in with some big moments including some solid lead guitar work. It’s track four ‘Anthem for Tonight’ where it all starts to go wrong and it’s not that it’s a bad song it’s just that it sounds very familiar in everything from the riff to the vocals, which begin to grate a little. From here on in I find myself trying hard to like it and whilst there are a lot of good things going on there’s something there that prevents me from really liking it. There are some obviously weaker tracks like ‘Snow In Hollywood’ and ‘Such a Terrible Trend’ and there are some interesting tracks like ‘Better Than Sex’, where the band branches out a little and tries more complex harmonies. You get the sense that they’re trying to break it up a little but they never really manage it and that’s probably the crux of my problem with Halifax; what they do they do very well but there’s just not enough variety and by the end of the album I’m struggling to remember one song over another.
The album closes with ‘Murder I Wrote’ and if you took it as a stand alone track it would be pretty good (latter day AFI springs to mind) but in this context it’s just more of the same. Despite that, Halifax have a lot going for them and this could well be their year but if they’re going to stay the course then perhaps there’s still work to be done?