Album Review | "what it means to feel" - House Lights
Track List
- Famous First Words
- Speak In Tongues
- Love And Understanding
- No Longer Myself
- Forced Perspective
- Light On My Feet
- believer:deceiver
- Rest
- Stranger Times
- Robin
- Full Collapse
Review
House Lights will be releasing their debut album "what it means to feel" in September. The 11-song full-length album displays the band's latest sound in a newly refined manner.
The album starts with "Famous First Words" which kicks off with fast pacing and bright guitar melodies. Harmonic vocals add catchy hooks to the track and alternate with chanting during the chorus. House Lights blends upbeat rock and elements of metal to create a powerfully enticing sound.
"Speak In Tongues" has a more mellow intro with gentle singing and descending note melodies that add a melancholy sound to the song. Drawn-out reverb and clean guitar create a distinctly full atmosphere that adds ambience behind the vocals at the forefront.
The third track "Love And Understanding" brings back the style of a slower verse that leads into an emotional, anthemic chorus. House Lights features their first harsh, screaming vocals in this track, alternating with the high singing vocals to make a strong contrast between the two vocal techniques.
"No Longer Myself" kicks in with a drum beat that leads into gentle vocals with aggressive chugging layered behind it, building excitement for the chorus. The song's chorus is explosive with powerful screaming and soaring vocals that create a mix of melody and brutality.
"Forced Perspective" has a sound and meaning that seems to display regret and is an emotional track that many listeners will be able to relate to. House Lights does an excellent job of creating a catchy and emotional song that mixes in with many of the more upbeat tracks of the album.
Up next is "Light On My Feet" a fast-paced with bright instrumentals that leads into a catchy singing chorus with powerful vocal hooks. A change from the last track, "Light On My Feet" is a much more uplifting and happy song that revitalizes the listener after the previous emotional track.
The 7th song "believer:deceiver" starts with piano and pop/hip-hop style electronic drums that build into rock/metal with guitar chugs. The song explodes into a huge chorus with multiple vocal tracks and an immersive atmosphere. "believer:deceiver" is a fresh sound for the album and overall a creative and unique song that mixes ballad, rock, and metal in a distinct fashion.
"Rest" introduces itself with colorful guitar riffage and singing before bursting into another one of House Lights' intensely melodic choruses. "Rest" even packs in a powerful breakdown with pinch harmonics and low chugging before transitioning to a final chorus.
"Stranger Times" starts with a distorted vocal effect before adding in singing and mellow guitar work. In a huge energy shift, the chorus mixes in singing, screaming, and strong guitar chords. Progressive/Jazzy high hat drumming sets up a rhythmic backbone for the vocals during the verse and helps to fill in the entire soundscape.
Song 10, "Robin" features a heartbeat sample and atmospheric guitar that creates a strong mood to start the track. Pop-reminiscent vocal styles build in energy as more instrumentals are introduced. All but the guitar and drawn-out whispers are taken away in contrast. Eventually this bridges into ferocious screaming, intense guitarwork, and singing.
The final song of the album, "Full Collapse" starts with aggressive screaming and heavy instrumentals, showing a new side to House Lights. "Full Collapse" is the heaviest display of sound throughout the album and is an energetic and powerful finish to "what it means to feel". The song still mixes in excellent vocal melodies but in combination with the screams and heavy instrumentals, "Full Collapse" is one of our favorites and a perfect end to the album.
Fans of metalcore, rock, and metal will highly enjoy House Lights and can look forward to the release of their debut album, "what it means to feel" in September!
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