Leander High School's online student-run newspaper

The Roar

Leander High School's online student-run newspaper

The Roar

Leander High School's online student-run newspaper

The Roar

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New Years Resolutions

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January 30, 2023

Her Demise My Rise – “The Takeover” (2010) Album Review

  by Matt Klein

  I was introduced to “The Takeover” last week through a friend who’s really into “post-hardcore” music, which is a mixture of heavier, low-tuned music with screaming and a more poppy sound with more singing, and sometimes auto-tuned vocals. My taste in music is heavier, including even lower-tuned music called “deathcore”.

  Before purchasing the album, I was expecting another good post-hardcore band that has come around, but the album cover didn’t help that at all. The cover’s background was a colorful splatter that I recognized, remembering that I used the exact same image in The Roar’s “We Have Issues” poster. The logo wasn’t as impressive as some that I’ve seen; it was a simple typed font with a horrifying “Millionaires” crunk-type diamond in the middle. All of a sudden I didn’t expect so much from the album; just some kids playing their blend of “lets-be-as-heavy-as-we-can-be” cookie cutter music we hear everywhere.

  During the couple of days wait before the package came in, I already doubted the purchase of the album. I had no problem waiting nearly a week for this album to come in, which really contributed to the surprise. The album came in the day of a concert I was going to in Austin, so I figured some friends and I would give the thing a listen on the way to the show.

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  The album started out with a very short, eerie intro that faded into the first song. When the track hit, I was immediately surprised. Not only was it deathcore, but it was also good deathcore.   I was eager to see what these guys could do, but the hope was nearly ruined when I heard what they mixed into the album.

  For the first half of the album, short sections were filled with some of the most auto-tuned vocals I’ve ever heard, reaching a laughable level. This is worse than what I had initially expected, ruining the heavy-hitting deathcore I craved.

  Track three “Take the Crown” was pretty good, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the rest. The lyrics weren’t as bad as some other artists, they were just repetitive. Almost each song is a story of another bad relationship or girl, which relates to the band’s name Her Demise My Rise. Right before I was about to eject the album for a better replacement, track six “Interlude” really impressed me. I didn’t regret giving the rest of the album a chance as it picked itself back up, almost as if the band intentionally ruined the first half of the album.

  Throughout each track, these guys keep delivering great new elements from heavy hitting guitar and drum work to breakdowns; exactly as I wanted to hear from track one. Each song was alone on how they sounded, which made this album worth it’s time and money. I highly recommend starting out this album on track three, then skip to six and listen to it as if were an EP. Actually, just remove the other tracks off of your iPod and forget about them. They weren’t worth the space they take up. With that done, you’ll enjoy the album much more, even a few times through. 

  Her Demise My Rise are great musicians alone, they don’t need to bring in T-Mills and Austin Carlile to ruin the first half of their album. I recommend listening to track three, then six through the end. Their Demos from 2007 and ’09 are just as great, even as the quality diminishes through each. I’d like to hear what material they’re working on now. Hopefully they’ve left the auto-tuned garbage behind.

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