REVIEW: Heights – Dead Ends

Artist: Heights
Album: Dead Ends
Genre: Hard Rock/Metal

This is not the first time I’ve said this recently but I’ve been constantly surprised by the up and coming metal scene, there are so many bands out there that I’ve never heard before, or really just know nothing about, and they are nothing short of amazing. There was a good long while there, where the “metal” scene had become a bunch of techno breakdowns, and a flip flop between power chord choruses, and open chugging breakdowns, and so the mainstream metal scene didn’t mean anything to me anymore. I used to love it, but it got very stale, very quickly. I stopped paying attention because it just became nonsense and I was sort of ashamed to be a metal kid, but lately I’ve found many bands within the relatively unknown reaches of the metal scene that have given me hope; hope that the genre is not dead, and there are respectable bands still making music out there. I started getting this glimmer of hope with the new Texas In July album, then Vanna pretty much sold me on it, and now I’ve made it to Heights, with their album, Dead Ends, a relatively unknown band, still trying to make a name for themselves in the national sense, but they have more actual credibility, at least in my eyes than most metal bands out there these days. And that’s fantastic, it means that the up and coming generation of metal bands, including Heights, and other metal bands I’ve reviewed recently that have surprised me in such a huge way, completely renewed my faith in the future of metal. All genres go through waves of popularity, as well as waves of talent, and most never really recover. Metal on the other hand, has been through so many ups and downs over the past few decades, and aside from a few notable bands, it has seen a significant decline as of late. But it seems like metal is posed for another comeback somewhere on the horizon, thanks in particular to bands like Heights.

The quality that really sets Heights apart from the rest is immediately apparent right from the intro track, “We All Live Alone…” it’s really all that is needed to properly sum up this band. The production quality is lacking in places, but then again, they are still very much an up and coming band, and so they aren’t going to have the big studio budgets of the bigger bands today, so some of the instrumental tracks become a bit muddy in places, but the vocals are absolutely astounding. They pierce through the entire album with a haunting shriek that I simply can’t get over. And that’s what really sets this band apart, the vocals are absolutely unforgettable, and impossible to mistake, but it’s not just the vocals that make this band a good one, it’s the whole package; slightly muddy recording quality and all. While none of it is really a technical masterpiece, it’s the overall product when it all comes together. Dead Ends as a whole is just very well written; “…And That’s How We Die” is the perfect closer to the album, driving and epic, without being too over the top. And songs like “Eye For An Eye” or “Letting Go” show the flexibility and diversity of the band, the former being a driving, fast paced song, and the latter, an epic sludgy trudge leading up to a spacy piano outro. The album just flows very well, there is no distinct climax that makes the rest of the album feel boring, it’s simply a solid, complete album. One that I see myself listening to for a long time to come.

I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that all my “the end is neigh” talk in regards to the modern day metal scene is completely unfounded. There are plenty of good bands out there; a few mainstream bands, or bands that many have yet to learn about, like Heights. So I should probably stop complaining, and just enjoy the music, and just keep digging for the under-appreciated gems out there. I tried to convince myself that metal has become a childish genre, and that I should move on and let my musical tastes mature, but I’ll always be a metal kid deep down, and now, thanks to bands like Heights, I’m no longer ashamed to admit it.

SCORE: 8/10
Review written by: Michael Hogan

James Shotwell
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