Prior to popping this disc in for the first time I knew absolutely nothing about Holy Roman Empire and I didn't really care for the band name, so I didn't think I was going to like 'em (yes, I know it's stupid, but if I don't like a band name, I often assume I won't like the band either). Oops. 'Cause I like it. I wouldn't have expected relatively catchy and forceful female-fronted emo/indie/post-hardcore (or whatever the hell you want to call it, I don't care) from an album released by Hewhocorrupts Inc. (nor from a band whose members have also performed in The Hope Conspiracy, Shai Hulud, The Suicide File, and Arma Angelus, among numerous others), but I must commend their diversity, as that is indeed what makes up the band's debut full-length, "The Longue Durée". Original? Not exactly, and as is often the case these days I could do without some of those tired "post-rock" guitar textures that pop up from time to time, but for the most part the songs revolve around lush clean passages and chilled out atmospheres contrasted by punchy, energetic bursts of distortion, and I can definitely hang with that stuff. On rare occasion the vocals sound almost too insanely pristine and polished for this kind of thing, but she's got such a great fuckin' voice, and when the choruses hit the mark her talents absolutely pay off. There are definitely a few little lulls in the songwriting throughout the album where the energy and "catchiness factor" drop off for a bit, so there's a little room for improvement in terms of balancing those elements out (Or perhaps 12 tracks in 42 minutes is ever so slightly much?), but overall they pull it off. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by this one, and that's always a cool experience. Not bad at all...
Holy Roman Empire "Undeserving You"
Holy Roman Empire "Take it Outside"
Buy it if you like it:
Comments
It’s like Paramore meets Saosin.
7.10.2007 | By Dave
that’s what i’m talkin’ about. the first track’s off to such an energetic start it had me smiling right away. good shit. made me break out old reputation and the rocking horse winner. there can never be enough female-fronted bands of this type of sound.
7.10.2007 | By chris
i only decided to give this band a chance because of neeraj playing guitar and i was extremely impressed and i usually cant stand music of this style
7.10.2007 | By phil d
You should give their six song EP a listen. It had a little more punch, and a little more catchiness IMO. Haven’t quite gotten fully into this one yet, but I haven’t listened to it more than a few times, so I’m sure it’ll grow on me.
7.10.2007 | By Tom DK
Same here Phil, i love Neeraj’s playing, and the earlier HRE was somewhat reminiscent of the Suicide File at times.. i’ll have to pick up this record to give a decent listen.
7.11.2007 | By Mike
Personally, I find female vocals really hard to enjoy and I took it with a pinch of salt when I was first recced this band, but they’re actually amazing. I was at the launch show for this album and they blew me away - then I listened to the album and haven’t really listened to much else at all in the last month!
They just seem to keep leaving sceptics pleasantly surprised.
I totally agree with the guy who also recced their EP, Lost In Landscapes - my favourite HRE track is from that.
7.11.2007 | By icedmaple
i like this CD quite a bit. i saw them at The House Cafe in DeKalb, Il earlier this month and wrote a review of the show as well as the CD for blogcrtics.org
they were very good live.
7.30.2007 | By john