Hawthorne Heights Fragile Future CD

Dayton, Ohio's Hawthorne Heights have had a tumultuous history. They experienced a huge success straight out of the gate with their first album,THE SILENCE IN BLACK & WHITE, but after the release of their second, they suffered the loss of guitarist/vocalist Casey Calvert, who died at the age of 26. Soldiering on in the wake of that tragedy, their tellingly titled third album, FRAGILE FUTURE, finds the band progressing but still holding on to their core musical values.

While it's hard not to read some of the band's personal travails into lyrics about "all the friends that you have lost" ("The Business of Paper Stars"), the absence of Calvert affects the band sonically as well; without his occasional roaring vocal interjections between JT Woodruff's highly melodic vocals, the screamo element is removed from the band's emo sound. If anything, the softer and harder sides of their approach meet in the middle more than ever before, offering a more balanced feel instead of segregating the quiet songs from the rockers. Nevertheless, the band continues to fuse rock, punk, pop, and emo, displaying unbridled energy and an undeniable sense of purpose as they move ahead into their FRAGILE FUTURE.

Hawthorne Heights: Matt Ridenour, Eron Bucciarelli, Micah Carli, J.T. Woodruff.

Audio Mixer: Jeff Schneeweis.

Alternative Press (p.158) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Hawthorne's sound has pushed beyond screamo-pop into strong guitar rock, with 'Disaster' possessing a Jimmy Eat World-esque vibe."