This year sees the return of Brighton / London based quintet Rough Hands, who entered the studio once again at the tail end of 2015 to begin work on their debut album ‘Let Me Win Your Hearts And Minds’. Two years on since their last release, the second of two 7″ EPs through Holy Roar records, Rough Hands make a triumphant return with their unique blend of post-hardcore.
Without hesitation the album is quick off the mark with the intensely aggressive and short, punchy opener simply titled ‘Choke’. The track somewhat sets the overall tone for the record with its downtempo, chuggy guitars layered with frontman Alex Dench’s unmistakably high pitched vocals. Track two, ‘Relapsed’ is what really brings the album to life though with it’s more traditional hardcore sound and tempo changes, it picks up the pace whilst retaining the dark ambient undertones that are maintained throughout the record right up to the title track and album closer ‘Let Me Win Your Hearts…’.
‘Swim In The Blues’ was the first single to be lifted off the album and exposes a much slower and more melancholy side to the band that’d previously remained unseen. With a majority of the vocal track a slightly whispered, spoken word delivery there’s an extra haunting aura added to the album that’s most obviously repeated on ‘Mind At Large’ and ‘The Underlying Negative’, which although similar in tone, do consist of some massively riff heavy and groovy guitar sections. Think ‘Scatter The Ashes’ era Brutality Will Prevail for comparison but with less Nike trainers and more post-hardcore crescendos.
Much like the album opener, ‘Mask of Sanity’ is another short banger with a devastatingly heavy intro before once again re-visiting the band’s traditional hardcore sounding roots. This track is also the closest the album gets to having a catchy chorus or hook.
‘Leaving My Will’ and ‘Detrimentum’ further blur the lines of genres and sub-genres covered by Rough Hands, as neither track would sound out of place on a mid 2000’s nu-metal record if only it weren’t for the raw and at times distressing vocal deliveries that have noticeably been brought forward in the mix on this album compared the bands previous releases.
‘Let Me Win Your Hearts And Minds’ is a fantastic effort and is a perfect example of how a band can mature over time. Rough Hands have shown some real progression since their two prior releases that were generally more chaotic as well as typically hardcore in sound and structure. It sees the band experiment and explore new tones and ideas that firmly cements their position as one of the more interesting hardcore bands around at the moment. There’s certainly no clever irony attached to the title of this album as ‘Let Me Win Your Hearts And Minds’ will do just that.
JAMES DAVENPORT