Barely Alive is the debut mini-album from American five-piece band, Savage Hands. Hailing from Waldorf, Maryland, the post-hardcore guys bring us their debut release in the form of a short 7-track mini-album, released on SharpTone records, titled Barely Alive. Upon first listen, alongside being a band labelled post-hardcore and signed to SharpTone records, a fresh record label with a roster already looking like my year 9 playlist, I was expecting a run of the mill, 10-year throwback, cheesy techno-breakdown, post-hardcore release. Fortunately, there was a little more substance to it than that. It does have its struggles elsewhere, but there’s something about Barely Alive that is somewhat nostalgically endearing.
The project opens up with the track Red. While its riffs and general feel isn’t anything special, as the song went on, I did begin to feel Savage Hands were offering something a little different to some of their contemporaries. The main riff is fairly standard and there are a couple of nice layered moments on the guitars later in the song, overall it kept me entertained enough for the duration of the song. The rhythm section is pretty predictable too, there’s nothing offensively boring about it, but nothing particularly ear catching about the tones or lines the bass or drums were playing either. The lyrics can get a little cliché in places as well, which is a let-down but somewhat expected when you hear how the rest of the instrumentation sets the song up. Another predictable part of the song is the obligatory post-hardcore half time outro, although I will say on this one, it is undeniably sweet and well executed. I’ve got to say the hook is pretty catchy too. I find the less I pick the song apart the more I like it.
The thing that stood out to me the most about Barely Alive, particularly on the first two tracks, is the vocal delivery. Amongst all the heavy emo and metal instrumentation the first half of the album brings, drawing influences from Asking Alexandria, Sworn In and We Came as Romans, a pretty strong clean vocal for the majority of the project wasn’t really expected. It can be cheesy at times as well as the lyrics, but there’s a definite level of character to it. It also means that we’re not just suffocated by unnecessary screamed vocals, they’re used more sporadically than I expected, and sometimes just as a backing vocal in places. The album’s vibe sets you up for some real whiney screamed vocals, but to Savage Hands’ strength, they steered clear of that and used them much more effectively, and pulled from more melodic post-hardcore and emo influences like My Chemical Romance and Funeral For a Friend.
With the latter half of the project a level of monotony does set in. It became apparent to me I wasn’t a huge fan of this thing when the last couple of tracks started really dragging, and they shouldn’t have considering the album is only 26 minutes long. That being said, the third track from last titled Taken did break things up well. It’s the only real acoustic song on the album. The song from start to finish features some charming broken chords on the acoustic guitar, some nice vocal melodies and an atmospheric swell towards the end with some other strings. It still features the same kind of themes as the rest of the record, but this one is delivered in true acoustic emo ballad fashion, and all I can think about is how much I would have fucked with this song when I was 15 years old. I’m sure I would have had the lyrics to this one posted all over my Facebook page.
Overall that’s the kind of vibe I get from this entire project. Something I would have appreciated more five to ten years ago. I do feel like Savage Hands offer a slightly more mature and fresh version of when there were an infinite amount of bands cashing in on the rise of what was wrongly labelled “metalcore” at the start of the decade. Multiple elements of that music that flooded the scene at the turn of the decade, find their way on to this album in parts. I can’t say that I’ve changed my mind on how entertaining or exciting I find that style, I really can’t bear it anymore, and Savage Hands can feel like a throwback to that older sound in places. But thanks to a few moments I genuinely enjoyed, some strong clean vocal performances instead of dispensable screamed vocals, and a swift run time, it separates Savage Hands from the rest a little. Barely Alive still definitely has its struggles, but there’s something about it a little different to the aforementioned run of the mill post-hardcore release. It’d be great to see Savage Hands further some of their more interesting ideas on whatever they choose to do next, I feel like there’s potential for them to breathe some life into this style of music with a more focused project next time round. Whether I’d bank on them doing that I’m not sure.
Rating: 2.5/5
Highlights: Red, Barely Alive, Taken
Find Savage Hands on Facebook and Twitter here:
https://www.facebook.com/SavageHands
https://twitter.com/savagehandsmd
Barely Alive is out now, available here!
Reviewed by Harrison Deacon
