House of Heroes - The End is not the End [Album]
 

House of Heroes, as the name might suggest (on a subliminal level), are another pop-punk American band. Due to a mass influx of this musical fashion in the mid 90’s (think Green Day and Blink 182) and then a more alternative take on it in the early 00’s (yup, Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco) there is definitely space for this band out there. Due to their uniquely successful religious look at rock music they have already gained much acclaim for “The end is not the end” and previous albums (Ten Months under the band-name “No Tagbacks”, What You Want is Now and House of Heroes.) In past research, I don’t think I have ever really discovered a Christian rock band with quite so many fans! After all, music of a religious but also punk level is not usually quite so main-stream.

House of Heroes are a great pop band, they make great pop music in a great way but do it in a fashion which is rarely attempted by other musicians, at least not with quite such a good result. It would be cliché to say that House of Heroes were “kick-ass” however they do hit the right notes in the correct order.

The album begins with an intro of simple strings, a very short symphonic piece slowly feeding you into the album. It bleeds into the first song “If” a good enough start, with a lovely end where the vocals are accompanied only by clapping, the band singing along in perfect harmony. The album is a creation of about 15 mini rock-operas. As Green Day’s “American Idiot” is famously a whole-album rock-opera, telling a story start to finished, the HFH album is a different story in each song.

“In the valley of the dying sun” is the first single of the album. It’s softer than much of the album but sticks to the punk credentials already discovered in previous tracks. Its melodically sound and quite soothing as the lyrics “I’m thinking of you…” are repeated.

The End is Not The End has feelings of Weezer and Phantom Planet as well as the previously mentioned bands. With such a melting pot as House of Heroes sound similar to it is easy to like them. It is however, going to be exceedingly difficult for them to successfully achieve world domination; it is highly unlikely that a band singing about one religion will ever reach the whole populous of music appreciators. After all, there are many other religions that might want pop music of their own and I wouldn’t bet on them all buying into the Christian rock theme.