Born from the ashes of the band Grade, the Canadian foursome Somehow Hollow have recently released their second album Busted Wings And Rusted Halos on Victory Records. Although the band co-existed with Grade for quite some time, it was the end of Grade that turned Somehow Hollow into a priority.
What can you expect? For one, there is melodic hardcore in abundance with all the necessary ingredients flavouring. And you know what that means: personal lyrics draped in fantastic guitar riffs and harmonies. Forceful drumming, melodic bass lines and vocals with just enough edge to make it all spicy. Take all of this and give it a nice phat sound (check out the bass drum) and you’ve got a winner.

Somehow Hollow drain their influences from both hardcore and classic heavy metal. Just check out the guitar riffs and the harmonies in “Kamloops” and “Halfway Gone”. For a second there, the names Saxon and Iron Maiden popped into my mind. Is this great or what? A nice response to the Swedish (death) metal influences used by hardcore bands like Atreyu and Darkest Hour. Mike Casarin’s vocals in combination with Kent Abbot’s and Brad Casarin’s guitar sound and fluid riffs give their overall sound that tremendous melodic hardcore soul. Because by all means, this is melodic hardcore at its finest.