Hand To Hand — Design The End/Follow The Horizon

Track Listing

01. In This City
02. State Of Emergency
03. Last Saturday Was Way Better
04. I Drew A Portrait In Philly
05. Mr. War Within
06. The Lion's Den
07. Passing Through
08. Love Muscle
09. Los Muertos Caminan
10. Let's End This Album With A Party

January 16th, 2010 at 7:56 pm by Ryan Tallman

Tags: Hand To Hand

Here in sunny Florida we have a very wide range of people, from young and beautiful all the way to old and portly. We have fantastic coastlines that offer up beautiful beaches, but we also have our share of trailer parks and trashy suburbs. As for our music scene, well, the contrast between good and bad music runs the gambit just the same. Calling Florida home myself, I have a tendency to set the bar a little bit higher for my fellow Floridian musicians. So naturally when I was turned on to Orlando based quintet Hand To Hand and their current release Design The End/Follow The Horizon, I expected them to represent our great state with class, and, of course, well dignified and brutal brilliance. The post-core scene could use some leaders, and I would love for Florida to produce some of the forerunners of this genre. So do these guys have the goods, or are they simply going to wash away with the next tide?

Right from the start, I would have to say I wasn’t impressed. That’s only because their opener takes forever to kick in (or so it seems), and the first thirty seconds of a CD really make it or break it for me. They would have lost me, but like I said, I have a soft spot for Florida based bands so I stuck around. And I’m glad I did because this isn’t a terrible album. It has its share of good melodies, the guitar work is solid, Rob’s battle cry is nice and grizzly, and his clean vocals are quite inviting. The songs are structured with some decent hooks, and the breakdowns are well delivered and deliciously disastrous — just the way I like it.

The only qualm I have with this album is that, although I am enjoying it, there aren’t really any stand out tracks. Don’t take that the wrong way, though, because the majority of this album is very good. There are a couple of sour notes here and there, but nothing at all detrimental to the quality of the record. Track six “The Lions Den” had a nice hook to it, and their closer “Let’s End This Album With A Party” was chock full of some great guitar licks that really stood out to me…but it was an instrumental, and we all know how I feel about those.

So as far as these guys becoming big players in the post-hardcore genre, well, let’s put it this way…I don’t see them washing away. I have definitely heard much worse, but I wouldn’t call these guys the next big thing. I do see a bright and sunny future for them, but it’s about capturing the listener and making a memorable record. I hate to say it, but they might end up blending in more then they will stand out.

As for the record, aside from a few little skid marks here and there, Design The End/Follow The Horizon wasn’t a bad listen. I enjoyed my time with this album and honestly don’t have a problem recommending it to our readers. I suggest you listen to a few tracks and form your own opinions; that is, if the snippets we offer sound appealing. I can only imagine if their live show is as high energy as their album, they will achieve a fair amount of success; and with the relatively large fan base they have, it seems they are already making some good ground. Cheers to you gentlemen and keep it up!