Artist: Halfwayhome

Album: A Brand New Subdivision

Label: The Death Scene Recording Company

Tracks: 11

Length: 40:16

                Reviewed By: Justin Brinker

 

Orange County’s Halfwayhome are one of the few bands I have heard as of late that have been able to wear their influences on their sleeves and not sound like a bad cover band in a talent show at their local high school.   Halfwayhome recently released their sophomore effort, “A Brand New Subdivision” on upstart label, The Death Scene Recording Company.  The influences range from early Saves The Day to No Motiv and there are also echoes of Thrice on some songs.

 

“For Tomorrow We Die” starts off the record with just a piano intro before the guitars and drums introduce what you can expect throughout most of “A Brand New Subdivision.”  They do change things up a bit on songs like “A Pilot And A Bleeding Heart” that uses picking parts on the verses or on “Architect Of My Demise” that starts out with an acoustic guitar before building into the chorus. 

 

The drawbacks to this record are evident.  For starters it is too much of the same and midway through “A Brand New Subdivision” you feel like the songs tend to bleed into one another. It is tracks like “Ascension To Clarity” and the extremely catchy “The Truth Can Be A Brutal Business” where Halfwayhome is in their element and it breaks up the monotony of the other tracks.  Out of the hundreds of dreadful bands out there playing this genre Halfwayhome’s “A Brand New Subdivision” is not going to set any new precedents but it is a nice change of pace.