Customer Reviews

Silence in Black & White (W/Dvd) (Reis)

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(123)

 

 

I like this CD. Now, I dont consider myself "emo". I dont normally listen to this type of music, I dont dress in black, I dont stress over a girlfriend just breaking up with me, or any of the other stereotypes associated with emo... This is just a good CD. Now if you dont like screaming at all, you might not like it too much. Myself, I didnt really care for screaming at first, but after multiple listens, it grew on me (in this CD atleast...). This is an emotional CD, and the screaming really helps to pull out that emotional aspect. There isnt an abundance of it, and it doesnt sound bad. The vocals are good, their on key, they dont whine at all. On the first few listens, this CD didnt sound that great. But I gave it a chance, and found that it really grew on me. So I would recommend you give it a good chance too, if you dont mind a bit of screaming. Overall, I think this is a well done CD.

On another note, if you plan on giving a CD a bad review, take the time to explain why. Just saying: "It sucks, dont buy it" doesnt really tell anyone why not to buy it. Tell us why you dont like it, and for Heaven's sake try to sound the least bit intelligent...

Hawthorne Heights is one of the best bands I have heard in far too long. There are so many "screamo" bands that have no depth, can't be understood and pretty much just suck all around. HH's The Silence In Black And White has amazing haunting vocals with screaming in the background. The melody with the screaming makes for a beautiful combination that I never get tired of. I have seen HH in concert 3 times and continue to be blown away by them.

Yes as many reviews have pointed out, this cd has been done before many times. But HH has done a great job finding a happy medium between emo and screamo. Its too heavy to be emo, but its also pretty weak screamo, which isn't all that bad. The songs are super tight too, all of them around 4 minutes. My only complaint is that the lyrics are sometimes a bit weak, but overall its a great listen.

1.Life on Standby-9/10- One of the heavier tracks, and it works.
2.Dissolve and Decay-10/10- This song is still stuck in my head.
3.Niki FM-10/10-Another standout, this is probably my 2nd favorite.
4.The Transition-8/10-Decent, with some catchy breaks that boosts its rating.
5.Blue Burns Orange-9/10-Catchy all the way through, with a great chorus.
6.Silver Bullet-9/10-First song I heard, I had to buy this after.
7.Screenwriting and Apology-7.5/10-Very forgettable.
8.Ohio is for Lovers-10/10-Great song, a definate standout.
9.Wake up Call-Amazing song, my favorite on the disc.

10.Sandpaper and Silk-8/10-also forgettable, but a very good track.
11.Speeding up the Octaves-8.5/10-Great song, but by no means the best on the cd.

Overall, this cd is definately worth the 12 bucks. HH have put together 11 amazingly catchy songs here that won't dissapoint.

I like this cd and I like the band I have seen them live once and plan on doing it again. I have contomplated buying this newer limited edition version, since i have the original version. That is why i started reading reviews. But then I came along this dumbass writing a bad review just because he thinks that this band is not original. He says they sound like Thursday and Taking Back Sunday. I agree but they sound different from them as well, it is not a cookie cutter similarity. What really drives me nutz is that he says that other bands are more original. The only band that i will say he mentioned that is an origianl band is fugazi. The rest sound like other bands that have come before them. Where the f**k did you get the idea that System of a Down are origianl and independant. They are the most repeated and mainstream nu-metal band out there. Their lyrics are complete bull s**t. The only thing that makes them independant is that the put thrash into the nu-metal. Thrash is not original it has been done for over two decades now. I can understand what he means by the are not an "independant" band, but use better examples of independant bands. Such as Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge or even He Is Legend. If your going to make an argument have good examples to back it up with, not bull s**t.

these guys are probably my 2nd fav band now, i've listened to it strait through over 30 times and i love every song here's what i think of each track:

1.Life on Standby -Great song with more screaming then the others
2.Dissolve and Decay-I love the guitar solos in this and also a great song.
3.Niki FM-heard it on the demo cd and loved it one of my favs.
4.The transition-another fav, great song.
5.Blue Burns orange-Awesome song, good chorus.
6.Silver Bullet-This song is really good song too, good to listen to after a split up :)
7.Screenwriting an apology-omg my fav on the cd no questions asked. 20 out of 10. haha.
8.Ohio is for Lovers-Great song one of the best on cd. I dowloaded the video and wathced it over and over...damn good.
9.Wake up call-at first i hated the begining now i love it. great song.
10.Sandpaper and silk- not my fav but a great song!
11.Speeding up the Octaves-This songs prob got the strongest lyrics but its not my fav its obviously good tho.

This cd is a steal its worth a hell of a lot more than 12 bucks they must be insane. BUY IT NOWWWW!!! I didn't even like screaming b4 i listened to these guys now i love it. You won't regret it.

Okay first off, everything that Joey T said, is ecaxtly what I would have said in this review. I can't agree with him more.

I mean, these guys aren't bad, but they rip off a lot of people and they aren't even good at it. Now before you say anything stupid hear me out on this one real quick. First, let's get past all the teen chicks who think this band is good. I have to say, all the girls I know (a lot) who like this band, have only heard one song by them. (i dare you to guess) and quite frankly, that's the ONLY good song on this record. The rest are carbon copies of eachother. Crap rip off Thursday/TBS screamo that literally just sucks worse than the first time it was done.

Heck, I love TBS, thursday's awesome too. Thursday practically invented the screamo we know today and TBS is one of the most original emotionally charged bands in the genre.
Admit it scene kids, TBS FOUNDED this genre of music. All this coping stuff like Hawthorne heights, silverstien, and bayside... All on victory BTW, was just Victory's last ditch effort to make a bunch of TBS esque bands and hope that kids would belive that these guys were just as original as TBS.

When it all comes down to it, I blame victory for this crap. I mean, even now they still keep pumping out the emo clone bands like to no end. For the love of god, stop it victory.

So admit it girls, your not really emo or hardcore. Your precious little minds can't handle anything outside the realm of pop. So even when a band like this comes along trying to look emo, while playing the same pop rock radio crap that you like, just skip it and go listen to green day.
And secondly, these guys truly do suck. The sreamer sounds like he's gargling, and the so called "triple guitar" is rarely, if never used.

I gave this two stars for the one song they have that's got an ounce of originality, ohio is for lovers. And that one is overrated...

Here's the thing about Hawthorne Heights, they're actually a decent band who just happened to pull that on card out of the deck to make it big. Unfortunately, most non-conformist screamo/emo/hardcore listeners have it in their mindset that "success" rhymes with "sell-out". Sometimes I will agree, but in this case The Silence in Black and White was reasonably succesful with the non-mainstream community before MTV even thought of picking it up and butchering it. Admittedly the album isn't the best but has some powerful songs, Blue Burns Orange is one of the more powerful Emo songs I've heard in a while. Yet much of the album seems a bit like space filling mush, it's still not a horrible album. If You're an open-minded, accepting emo fan than I would highly recommend picking up this album, it is, after all, one of the better very recent albums of it's genre

Back in the day, the arrival of bands such as Warrant and Poison spelled the end of the 80s metal scene because they were so obviously a joke. The sheer crumminess of such bands served to open the door to Nirvana and weed out everyone who wasn't 100% legit, leaving a handful of bands like Metallica. A similar thing is beginning to happen now. Hawthorne Heights is so bad that one would be inclined to laugh, except this is no joke. They are merely representative of the tripe excreted by the industry at the moment. No one's listening. I mean, really - when the guy who has the screaming part of the lyric looks like the dude the geeks, nerds and dweebs picked on, how seriously can anyone take it?

Misreable is the title I would give to this CD. Unfortunately a band with so much marketing power puts out a chunk of crap. The only song worth mentioning is "Ohio is for Lovers." They sound like a garage band trying to who imitate finch or the other bands of the same genre. I believe the try to hard. Music in general has gone to nothing. Unfortunately the music world marks bands as punk. I havent heard anything that qualifies as punk that is played on the radio. Nice try, HH bring on some Simple Plan(Not Really they are worse).

Okay, I finally got my hands on a copy of this album cheap enough to warrant actually giving it a chance. (yea, I found a discarded copy on the sidewalk.) I forced myself to listen through this album twice for the purpose of writing an objective review. I'm as horrified as I thought I would be.

Like one other reviewer, I thought this band was a joke when I first heard their ad on MTV. I thought it was a sad, sick, f***ed-up joke. Oh god, I wish I'd been right.

The most noteworthy part of this album is the lyrics. I can't say anything that hasn't been said before. They're emo-core. It's pretty much a bunch of emo cliches, but taken to a new level of intensity. In fact, I think they're the first band to say something as forwardly emo as "cut my wrists and black my eyes" The lyrics alone are enough to make me never give this album a third chance. Seriously, I grew up listning to a fair bit of Kurt Cobain, and I think this is over-the-top downtrodden bulls***.
I don't say this as someone who limits myself to music between Green Day and Good Charlotte, as some other reviewers do. No, I listen to classic rock, jazz, alternative rock, metal, emo, punk, blues, hip-hop, pop, mainstream rock, even the occasional country. I'm not someone who's limited myself to whatever rock's been on the radio for the past year. I'm not to busy sitting in my room, crying, listening to Taking Back Sunday and slicing up my wrist to get out there and appreciate some real music.

Out of a collection of 1000 CDs, this is the one I own that infuriates me the most, pretty much because of those lyrics. Oh, the guitar work is decent for generic rock. The drumming is solid, but far from spectacular. The bass really isn't there like it should be.

So for you kids who want to listen to something modern, relevant, deep, compelling, enjoyable, and yet still with a darker edge to it, I suggest you try one of the following bands instead: Tool, Nirvana, Mastodon, heck, even some Marilyn Manson will introduce you to some valid social points that you won't get out of this self-important crap.

Seriously, to get into some more intelligent dark music, pick up Tool's Lateralus or AEnima, or Perfect Circle's 13th Step.

high points:
decent guitar
the're good at keeping time, i guess
um....

low points:
self-important, whiny, over-the-top-screamo lyrics.
lack of bass
lack of musical variety
"lack of rapping :-P "
mediocre production