HANDS LIKE HOUSES | Anon | Album Review

Hands Like Houses is easily one of the better post-hardcore type bands out there. There is no denying that there is a ton of talent in this band that casual listeners take for granted. Now, in 2018, here they are with their latest album "Anon", the first album of theirs after their signing by Hopeless Records and UNFD. That makes sense as UNFD and Hands Like Houses are both based down under in the good ole continent of Australia. What's also reality is that Hands Like Houses' newest project is an album that promises something a little bit different and than what the band is known for. Coming off of two highly recommended albums in "Unimagine" and "Dissonants", Hands Like Houses have the potential to take in any element they can get their hands on and execute it well. "Anon" is described by the band to be the most fun they have had making an album. In interviews with news outlets and the media, Hands Like Houses has stated that the 10 songs on the album "capture fatalism and optimism, call-outs and self reflection, realism and fantasy, politics and personal journey. Each its own anonymous piece to relate to, built around a shared human experience or perspective." It has always been true that Hands Like Houses' writing has been more thought provoking and relatable than other bands, so with them stating that trend will continue on "Anon", a record rooted in experimentation, it's something that gives you high hopes for the project as a complete whole. 

Before the release of "Anon", the band gave us three songs in between the album announcement and the album release that each have a different style to them, those tracks being "Overthinking", "Monster", and "Tilt". "Overthinking", the first of these songs to be released, has a nice groove to it as well as softer verses that lead into louder choruses, which is something that works well. It's an example of Hands Like Houses using their skills in song composition to deliver something solid. What longtime fans of this band I feel will be more gravitated towards on this album and of the three pre-released tracks is "Tilt". After hearing "Anon" in it entirety, I can say that this song is the best song coming from this project. The song is definitely more in line to what you'd expect with the guitars and drumwork delivering consistently as well as Trenton Woodley having a fantastic performance throughout the song. But, as a song, it's probably one of my favorites of the year. Everything meshes so well in this song, including in the writing, and it's a brew that is mixed together very carefully and delivers on all cylinders. Unfortunately, the other song "Monster" doesn't deliver as consistently as the two other tracks do. It's a weird Stone Temple Pilots throwback song with Trenton Woodley in the verses mumbling repetitive lyrics, and it gets old after a while. It's not Hands Like Houses at their strongest. Luckily those, the other two tracks are good enough to still bring some excitement for the overall album to be great. 

Truth be told, listening to this album you do get some excellent tracks in "No Man's Land" which is a heartfelt cut that has a good foundation to it, as well as "Black" which is a solid nu-metal/alternative metal twinged cut that features an ending where Trenton Woodley gets aggressive in his delivery and so does the music backing him up. You would think that this type of quality would be an unmistakable mainstay throughout the entirety of the record. Unfortunately though, the rest of the album does not deliver and is sort of a mess. Now, this album isn't BAD. I don't think anyone can confidently say this album is garbage since there is effort. But, when you hear a song like "Tilt" or "No Man's Land" that does fire on all cylinders, everything else should as well. That is not the case as we get an opening track in "Kingdom Come" that starts off more like an intro track to an album and doesn't leave much of an impact after you hear it. The same could be said for other tracks like "Through Glass", "Half-Hearted", and "Bad Dream". These three tracks are NOT good at all, and most of them feature a good use of pitchshifted vocals that sit in the background to just try to cater to the pop music audience, and not doing it in an interesting way. These songs are also poorly and generically written as well, with lines such as "I left it six feet down and just ignore it till it fades" in "Half-Hearted" and the entire pre-chorus of "Through Glass" being a disappointment to hear from an act that I know is better at writing than this. There really isn't much to say about these tracks or this album. 

Am I being a bit too harsh on this album? I guess you can say that because after hearing excellent songs such as "Tilt" and "Overthinking", and listening to the entirety of Hands Like Houses' discography after that, I was really looking forward to this album to be quite honest. There is still a ton of potential left in this band and I want to see it executed in a good way. After hearing "Anon", an album that does have have every now and then but not enough to make it a "great" release, it leaves you wanting so much more from the band. I stand by my claims of this album not being bad because it really isn't, but in terms of disappointing albums of 2018, this is definitely one of those. There really could have been more to this album either if they exchanged some of these tracks with ones that had better ideas or added two or three more songs to this ten-track album that actually had effort. Not just release an album with one or two fantastic songs, a couple good ones, and the rest of it not mattering as much and feeling more jumbled than cohesive. If you're looking to buy this album, please listen to the band's other albums and pick those up before getting to this album. Like I said, this is still a band worth listening to and there still is some talent there, but their previous albums were A LOT better than this one. 

RATING: 6/10 

Leave your thoughts about this album in the comments section below. Was this album good or bad? Was it a surprise or a disappointment? All you have to do is type it in. Everybody's opinions matter even if they are different than mine. Scamp4553 will be back with more reviews and content coming your way soon.