Sometimes good intentions do not guarantee good results. Hollowhead seem to have all the elements a band requires to at least write good music. However, somewhere along the way they seem to stumble upon their indecision of settling on a specific genre. Maybe it was their decision to try this crossover style, but in the end I can't really say it worked out well for them.
Hollowhead is a Swedish act formed in the town of Ange. The band was formed back in 2000 and so far they have been quite productive since they have release five demo CDs and several split albums. Burden Of Sorrow is their latest attempt to brake through the underground.
I can't seem to understand several things in their music. First of all we have their vocalist, Jens Backman, who has a great melodic voice (if you can't figure that out by listening to Blindfolded Innocence then you have a serious listening problem) but tries his best to ruin it with his effort to sound like a Hardcore vocalist. Why is that? Then we have their music. It's obvious that the band tries to marry melodic and traditional Metal with more extreme forms like Thrash and Hardcore. Their melodic / traditional moments like Blindfolded Innocence and Stories are really great. The rest however without being bad don't really have something to tell my ears.
I am one of those persons who always exhort bands to try something different than simply copy / paste known acts (like so many bands sadly do all the time). But I am not willing to accept a band as easy only because they do it. Hollowhead definitely need to make up their minds. I strongly believe that their melodic aspect of their work is awesome, their extreme side needs a lot of work. Hey! One more thing: does Blindfolded Innocence bring in mind Queensryche of the Empire Era or is it my idea?