Here we go again; another Australian band that is ready to take the music scene by storm, however, this time it is not a metalcore or hardcore band. Heroes For Hire, a pop punk outfit from Sydney, Australia is set to release their third full-length album entitled No Apologies on September 28th. No Apologies is currently streaming on Halfcut Records’ Facebook page (link below) and I strongly recommend that you do not sleep on this release. After hitting the play button to commence my first listen, the first thing that I said to myself was “am I listening to New Found Glory?” because of how similar the vocals sound. This was semi-expected, though, because New Foung Glory is highly influential to Heroes For Hire and because No Apologies was recorded by New Found Glory’s very own Steve Klein. While the vocalist doesn’t have a very wide range, his voice never becomes tiresome to hear. It also helps that the backup and guest vocals are impressive, and the lyrics catchy. My personal favourite lyric is “Here’s to the friends that still pretend like there is nothing wrong with getting fucked up every weekend and still acting like they’re young” heard on the previously released “Set In Stone”. The vocals are exceptional, but that’s not all that impressed me greatly. The instrumentation is just as good. Many of the guitar riffs are very reminiscent of I Call Fives’ latest release which is one of my favourite pop punk releases of 2012. Thankfully, Heroes For Hire managed to add a few of their own things to the already successful blueprints to avoid sounding exactly alike. The drumming is the typical upbeat drumming that you hear from the majority of pop punk bands and it fits with the rest of the music perfectly as does the bass.
No Apologies may not be the best pop punk album of 2012, but it will definitely be a contender to many because of its consistency. It never lets up; it’s very fun to listen to from the first track to the last. The tracks that stood out to me the most were “No Apologies”, “Weigh Me Down”, “Nowhere At All”, and “Lords Of Blacktown” which features Jeff Todd of I Call Fives. If you’re still hesitant on checking out Heroes For Hire’s No Apologies, I would suggest that you listen to one of the aforementioned songs and prepare to be amazed.
Links: Facebook – Stream
