Two EPs and three years later, Heart To Heart is finally set to release their debut full-length album through Anchor Eighty Four Records. The band hails from Pismo Beach, California and plays a style of music that would best be described as pop punk/hardcore, but there’s much more to it than that.
On Heart To Heart’s previous release entitled Deathproof, there was only three tracks, but every song had a completely different style. The band has continued to utilize every style in their arsenal on their self-titled album. Some tracks put off a Misser/Transit vibe and some sound like an edgier Brand New, while others are very upbeat and have a melodic hardcore feel to them. You would think that most of the songs could be put into one of these categories, but there is so much variety throughout each track that it’s nearly impossible to do so.
Heart To Heart is fairly lengthy for a pop punk or hardcore album (45 minutes), but it is an extremely fun listen and it never becomes stale. The vocalist has a very wide range and the backing and guest vocals add even more range to prevent the album from becoming the slightest bit monotonous. The guest vocals on “Stuck” provided by Tony of Stickup Kid is easily one of the best guest spots on a pop punk song that I’ve ever heard.
As previously mentioned, there are several different sounds on this album ranging from acoustic (half of “GV”) to the expected pop punk/hardcore songs to an aggressive melodic hardcore sound heard on a few tracks near the middle of the album. “The Turn” and “Thanks For Everything” are extremely upbeat with fast riffing and drumming, but they both still manage to have very catchy choruses. The lyrics on the album are also great and very powerful, especially on the aforementioned tracks; “It’s true what they say / You don’t know what you have until it’s gone” is one of my favourite lyrics and it can be heard on “Thanks For Everything.”
It boggles my mind how a band could create one of the most edgy and aggressive pop punk albums and still manage to sound extremely catchy, but Heart To Heart has done so on their self-titled album. It has it all and there isn’t one track that is mediocre or much weaker than the others. Everything has a meaning and it all flows so flawlessly. My personal favourite tracks are “See: Sick,” “The Turn,” “Thanks For Nothing,” “Thanks For Everything” and “Stuck,” but I like every song enough to call Heart To Heart my “pop punk” album of the year. Be sure to pre-order the record or purchase it when it’s released on October 9th. It’s clear that Heart To Heart put a lot of heart into this record (no pun intended) and they deserve every cent that their fans give them.
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