HEARTSOUNDS is a punk rock band from the Bay Area starting to make some noise.  Formed by Light This City mastermind Ben Murray and vocalist Laura Nichol, HEARTSOUNDS is their new outlet that allows them to express their love for punk rock.  I honestly didn’t see this coming, especially when their last band Light This City was one of the hottest up-and-coming melodic death metal bands landing some huge tours, and really starting to generate a following.  What I really didn’t understand was Light This City announcing their breakup before they released their final full length, Stormchaser, which I’m guessing made Light This City lose some record sales.  At least announce your breakup after the album is released, right?
 
Anyways, all of this must have really been leading up to the faith that Ben and Laura have in HEARTSOUNDS, and surely enough, the band seems to be doing well.  The band has signed to Epitaph Records, and the label will be releasing their debut, Until We Surrender.  On the record, multi instrumentalist Ben Murray does drums, bass, guitar, and vocals (as he’s done before with Light This City), and Laura plays guitar and adds some vocals.  You can still hear a lot of the melody that fused Light This City (yes, they love their melody), and HEARTSOUNDS can really unleash some great speed punk that shows a great balance with all of that melody.  Until We Surrender is a pretty good release.  I think what hooks me here is that HEARTSOUNDS likes to play fast, and I like fast.
 
The Album opener “The Song Inside Me” warms up these heartsounds with a fast paced in-your-face punk approach with equally as much melody.  The listener will be quick to learn that this is the formula for a HEARTSOUNDS song.  Songs like “Reoccuring Gray” are more riff friendly and slightly defy the norm of the band’s sound, as it’s not just chords and speed picking flying everywhere, but also some great melodic riffs that touch your heart.  Besides the vocals, this song almost reminds me exactly of early Atreyu (Suicide Notes And Butterfly Kisses-era).  I think this is a strong point that works to HEARTSOUNDS’ advantage.  Other songs like “Slave To A Heart That Strays” and “Walking Dead” stick to the band’s formula, which is loud, fast, and melodic.  I love the urgency of the closing song “Our Last Hope”.  The speed of both the guitar and vocals really gets the adrenaline pumping, and the backing vocals by Laura Nichol really bring a warm feeling amongst the listener.  “Our Last Hope” is where I see HEARTSOUNDS diving back in to those Light This City thrash tendencies, while making it speed punk at the same time.  Pretty well done.
 
My one slight complaint is Ben’s vocals.  They are good, not great, but at times they just seem like they need not be there – while I know Ben loves punk, it still just doesn’t seem to come naturally.  I definitely do think Until We Surrender is a solid release, and I dig what Ben and Laura are doing (as they are very talented musicians), but I just think that they can do even better.  Give them a little bit of time, and I bet you’ll see HEARTSOUNDS around a lot more.