The Neon Handshake - Hell Is For Heroes

When Hell is for Heroes burst on to the British rock scene earlier in the decade they filled something of a void, keeping the rocking guitars and intense emotion favored by other favorites on the rock scene at the time such as Funeral for a Friend and American counterparts such as Glassjaw but in keeping straight forward song structures, infectious riffs and huge chorus's of more straight forward indie and hard rock bands they maintained an accessible edge that saw them bother the charts on many occasions and maintain a rabbid cult following that is still in force to this very day. From the intense riffing and epic chorus of opener 'Five kids go' to the ...  Read the complete review

Hell is for heroes were described in 2003 as the great hope for british rock music, this 42 minute album provides a burst of energy with a wall of guitars which provide climatic and empowering riffs. Hell is for heroes roots come from the late band symposium, Will McGonagle (lead guitar) and Joe Birch (drums) both moved on to Hell is for heroes after the collaspe of symposium, but rather then the more upbeat songs symposium were liked for, hell is for heroes have darker and heavier tunes, which follow the heavy chorus, quiet build up routine. Justin's vocals are strong and dont get drowned out by the over the top guitar riffs. Songs worth looking ...  Read the complete review

The new age listener would dub HIFH as 'emo', the more respective and aged amonst us however would rather call it 'hard rock'. A British based band (so there's a positive straight away!) who avoid the emotional based screaming that the likes of Funeral For A Friend produce, and the frighteningly low tuning of guitars that have become accustomed with the likes of Thrice, and instead have an uncanny knack of developing melodies that will remain with the listen hours afterwards.... Opening track 'Five Kids Go' immediately grabs our attention and acts as an impecable indication of what is to be expected throughout the album. The vocal strength of Justin ...  Read the complete review