With a name such as Scraps and Heart Attacks, my fears were growing of some sort of emo-esque crybaby bullshit, the kind that would have Ben Punktastic running for the hills clutching his Solabeat Alliance CD in one arm and a Ye Wiles effort in the other. Thankfully, it is the exact opposite. I couldn’t quite believe my ears when opener ‘Queen of Prussia’ dumps you right into the heart of the bands sound, a cacophony of thumping drums, biting hooks and angst ridden throaty vocals. Within thirty seconds of this musical onslaught, I knew this was the band for me…
In an age when the hardcore section in hottopic is overrun with kids who don’t know the meaning of the word, let alone the music that derives from it, it is refreshing to hear a band who have a distinctly old school feel to them. ‘My Point’ is a good example of this as a shifting bassline opens the song and proceeds to guide you through it in another stunning ditty of noise. Scraps and Heart Attacks pull no punches in the twenty-minute volley to the head and they do it so well with strong musical breakdowns and song structure prominent throughout on efforts such as ‘Do the Math’ and ‘Sea Legs’ as it showcases the bands talent once more.
The remainder of the tracks on the album prove just as dynamic, as the now familiar sound of the throaty vocals and 3-dimensional music take pride of place on an extremely tight record. Minor and slight let downs are still there though and they include the slightly lacklustre ‘This may suit you’, which doesn’t have the same spark as other tracks on show and ‘Next stop, Harvard Ave’ which after the rousing opener in the form of ‘Queen of Prussia’, proves downbeat and not quite the follow up you would expect. ‘Still Sick’ and ‘Scraps and Heart Attacks’ prove two of the finest tracks on show, and whether it is coincidence these are the respective names of the album and band, I don’t know, but as a set of songs, they work very well together.
Whether the band tried to intentionally take hardcore a few years back, I do not know, but they have certainly produced a finely crafted piece of music, which will take many of the older and wiser hardcore lover back to some semblance of roots that have been trampled on over the years. After my initial low expectations, Scraps and Heart Attacks have pulled an album out of the hat, and is one of the highlights of the year thus far.
Jay
www.scrapsandheartattacks.com
www.triplecrownrecords.com
