Honor Bright - Action! Drama! Suspense!

Pop-punk
Triple Crown Records

Honor Bright

Action! Drama! Suspense!

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3

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Nowadays, run-of-the-mill pop-punk is not hard to find. The sheer volume of bands playing guitar-driven catchy choruses is mind-boggling. However, something that is getting harder and harder to find are bands that put some substance into their pop-punk. Fortunately, Honor Bright is one of those bands. On their new full length Action! Drama! Suspense!, they prove themselves to be more than just a band with an obnoxious album name, and are bound to win over new fans with their brand of pop-punk, which is at times reminiscent of Mayday Parade, and at others of New Found Glory.

The album starts off with the riffing and drumbeats of “How To Break A Heart,” and from the beginning show that they know how to win over an audience. Immediately following is “Sleepless in Syracuse,” a song that, despite its lackluster chorus (a problem most likely caused by bad production), is saved by its bridge, which, both emotionally and sonically, is reminiscent of Mayday Parade at their finest. And so the album continues in a similar fashion. “Off Limits” works extremely well as mid-tempo track, and serves as the perfect precursor to “Welcome To New York, Now Get A Job,” a quick-paced rocker that chugs long at a faster pace than life in the Big Apple, and serves as one of the album’s best songs. Surprisingly enough, the band manages to keep the quality of their songs intact in the album’s second half, and the album is enjoyable to the closing acoustic notes of the hidden track that comes after “Bednotch and Broomsticks.” However, if one complaint about the album is to be made, it could be the low production value. While the mildly rough edge in the mix is refreshing in a scene of saccharine pop, at times it seems the mix is too rough, which prevents some choruses from soaring as high as they could. However, while such production misfortunes do lower the album’s standard, they do not keep the album from being an enjoyable listen.

With Action! Drama! Suspense!, Honor Bright prove themselves to be capable pop-punk songwriters. From fast-paced rockers to heartfelt hidden tracks, it seems the only thing keeping this album down is the low production value. The future is definitely bright for Honor Bright. The band knows how to write music that can appeal simultaneously to pop-punk purists and pop trash junkies, and, in today’s world of neon, synthesizers, and tight pants, that in itself is a commendable feat.

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