I didn’t expect too much from this to be honest. My previous experiences with Hondo Maclean had shoved them in that ‘another-screamo-band’ bracket that everyone post-Funeral For A Friend has been thrown in. Of course, being Welsh hasn’t helped them shake those comparisons either. With a couple of EPs under their belts and a stream of high profile supports, this record will be the one that makes or breaks them. Mighty Atom has started to develop a reputation as a label that releases solid post-hardcore records and ‘Unspoken Dialect’ is no different. It’s a record that builds on the impetus of the last two EPs and adds a real mature side – the screams are better placed and the melodies are really built on – it makes this record more accessible admittedly, but at the same time Hondo become a genuinely good band as opposed to a band mocked for copying their peers.
The guitars on this record pierce and shred and are pretty intense. On opener ‘Keithie’s Done Himself A Mischief’ the band unravel a cacophony of instruemnts and hurl vocals from the speakers – it’s like the band of old. But the mangled mess untangles into a band that show many sides over the course of 10 songs. The structures are solid – and varied – for a start, making the band less predictable than before. There’s more singing and less screaming, which I’m all for in the right doses, while, as I touched on before, the guitar work is exemplorary. ‘Intensity In 10 Cities’ is what it says on the tin, while the Welsh lads rip things up further with ‘Don’t Stop Rodeo’. The band’s main influences and reference points don’t vary too wildly.
There are parts that come across like Converge, parts taken from more old-skool metal bands, parts that do (I hate to admit), sound like old FFAF. But it’s the way in which the band at least attempt to move on and stamp their own identity over this album that is most impressive. Ripping out a stacdk of ‘Chasing Angels’ clones would no doubt have sold records, but this tests the band’s songwriting skills and sounds all the better for it. In terms of mainstream success, I think Hondo will do well on the back of this record. It is more accessible, but not so that it loses any power or intensity – and that is the sign of a good record after all…
www.hondomaclean.com
Mighty Atom
Paul