Hawthorne Heights
The Silence in Black and White

Victory Records
Release Date: June 8, 2004

If you ever wondered how a typical emo/screamo album sounds with three guitars attacking it, all you have to do is listen to Hawthorne Heights' debut album, The Silence In Black and White, and you'll get it.  The Silence In Black and White is an album where you get to hear a melodic voice with hardcore screaming laid over it and three guitars all playing at once.
 
The first song released off the record is "Ohio Is For Lovers," which already has a video for it.  The song starts off quiet until the chorus jumps in and yells "And I can't make it on my own."  In my opinion, "Ohio Is For Lovers" is one of the better songs off their CD. 

"Transition" is a song that talks about waiting for someone you love.  In the song, you hear a quiet soothing voice singing "Shine on, shine on diamond eyes" while "Shine on" is being screamed.  The song fades out singing "As days go by I swear I'll try until I die/anything for you."

One thing I like about the album packaging is that on each page it shows practically the same exact thing except the girl in the picture gets older and older.  Also, in the pictures the only thing that doesn't have a brownish tint and isn't brightly colored is a bouquet of flowers.

Another one of their more popular songs is "Silver Bullets."  It's one of their more confusing songs, since in the verses and bridge they're saying that they can't live without this person, but the chorus is singing "I've got a single silver bullet I shot right through my heart to prove I can survive without you."

In most of Hawthorne Heights' songs, there are very depressing lyrics.  For example, "So cut my wrist and black my eyes so I can fall asleep tonight or die because you kill me" which is in "Ohio is For Lovers," and "Sit back and let her die slowly/don't cry/she didn't love you anyway" in the song "Dissolve and Decay."  Another depressing lyric is "Through arteries untold/your skin is pale/my body's cold," which is in "Wake Up Call."

One of the more dark, depressing songs by Hawthorne Heights is "Wake Up Call."  The song starts off very faded out.  It's most depressing lyric is "Cut my throat/Spill my blood/Pitch black heart."

The first song off The Silence In Black and White is "Life On Standby."   One thing I like about the song is just when you think the song is over "Wake up" starts being screamed over and over.  Then it ends with "Wake up/now it's over/ just tell me it's ok to die."

Niki FM" is another good song off the record.  The chorus starts with singing and screaming "I know," which is followed by singing "I'm outside of your window with my radio."

Another song on the album is "Blue Burns Orange."  Grace Carli is featured in the song and sings, "You are the ghost of everything that I'm not and I want to be."  One thing I like about the song is that at the end, they sing a more melodic version of the chorus.

There are alot of good lyrics in the songs on The Silence In Black and White.  Some good lyrics are "Dear black goodbye/don't forget to write your name inside of my life," which is in "Blue Burns Orange," and "Romance this change to set angels to flight before they die," in the song "Speeding Up the Octaves."

Overall, Hawthorne Heights debut record, The Silence In Black and White, is an okay record.  It has great lyrics, but alot of the songs sound alike.  The only good thing about that is that is if you like one song, you'll know you will like the rest.  So if you in the mood to hear emo being attacked by not one, but three guitars, I suggest you pick up this record.

XROXX Album Rating: XXX (3 X's out of a possible 5 X's)

Kersten Peterson
writer@xroxx.com