These Hearts – Forever Ended Yesterday

It’s been a while since I truly got to sit down and completely rip into an album; but These Hearts’ Forever Ended Yesterday gives me the perfect opportunity to do just that.

For you see, These Hearts are the most basic, bottom of the pile, generic and bland offering available. Not to sound judgemental, but from the moment you see the press picture adorning the back cover of the booklet (or the CD case for that matter), you can pretty much write them off and I wouldn’t blame you.

Forever Ended Yesterday is the latest album to try and merge pop and hardcore elements together and they’re the latest band to fall short at it. When they go the pop route they are way too poppy with falsetto vocals reaching for notes way out of their range like a horrid Anthony Green wanna-be. Their hardcore persona isn’t quite as bad but also seems forced and fake; even more so when placed alongside its pop counterparts. In an effort to try and sound tough they throw in breakdowns for no apparent reason – the inexplicably uneven Are You Mad? being the prime example of that misfortune.

Lyrically, the band is equally as laughable. Lyrics like the gem of a chorus from the title track, “She doesn’t look like she’s sixteen, / She’s all about herself and I’m calling her out. / She doesn’t look like a drama queen, / Because you can’t get over someone you’re still under” is just completely cringe worthy. Then again, what would you expect when you have song titles like She’d Like To Wear The Pants, But She Can’t Fit Into Mine? Sadly, that’s one of the highlights of the album which speaks strongly to the extremely low calibre of the other songs on here.

All in all, there’s really nothing compelling here as These Hearts are trying to jump on the latest trend but coming several years too late (Attack! Attack! cornered this horrid marketplace years ago and we don’t need anyone else adding fuel to the fire). The only song that is relatively passable is the standard acoustic number Thinking In Terms of Two. In most other albums, it wouldn’t leave a mark but in the midst of this wreckage, it’s a sliver of hope – especially with the Meg & Dia sounding guest vocals on the track.

Generic, bland and uninspired – These Hearts may be perfect for the scene kids; but anyone looking for something with depth should look somewhere else.