Review of With Honor - This Is Our Revenge

This Is Our Revenge? What is? This? This album is your revenge? On what? Your last album? Huh? I don't have the faintest idea what With Honor are referring to, but revenge isn't exactly something that comes to mind when a band converts to a blatantly more melodic and accessible sound. Maybe it's a smart move for them in the end as this is a lot more listenable in the eyes of most people, but who I am to speculate on the band's motives, anyway.

Gone are the fast rhythms, strong breakdowns, and angrily determined vocals. But at what cost? But at what cost, I say? While these aspects seem to have been sacrificed in the name of stronger and more memorable hooks, I've certainly lost the mid-level of enthusiasm that Heart Means Everything generated for me. Now, I'm not going to toss this CD into the garbage or even urge others to leave it on the store shelves, but I am going to say if you enjoyed the band's previous efforts, don't pick this up expecting the same sound. They're still retaining shreds of their former character, such as on "Closets" and "New War", but this is much more of a melodic punk sound pushed into hardcore when the day is done.

With Honor were never the most original band to begin with, so the banner of hardcore won't be raised to half-mast with the release of This Is Our Revenge. However, I'm personally disappointed to hear them actually lose their identity while trying to establish a seemingly more revised one. Well, at least they've proven something we all probably knew before – that they're capable of writing more catchy and mainstream material. Whether or not that's a real accomplishment, I'll leave that up to you. If you liked the last record from Comeback Kid, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll enjoy whatever revenge this album embodies.

Release Details

With Honor

This Is Our Revenge

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