REVIEW: The Color Morale – “Know Hope” (2013)

Artist:  The Color Morale [Facebook] [Twitter]

Album:  “Know Hope”

Tracklist:

1. Burn Victims
2. Smoke and Mirrors
3. Learned Behavior
4. Living Breathing Something
5. Strange Comfort
6. In Light In Me
7. Silver Lining
8. Steadfast
9. Hole Hearted
10. Saviorself
11. Have.Will
12. Never Enders

If you’re not ready for your mind to absolutely explode, turn away and don’t even try to look at or pick up this album.  The Color Morale, after about a year of talking about and detailing the idea of a new album, and bringing an obvious change to their style live, have finally made what was once fantasy a reality – a reality called “Know Hope.”  This album is a definite change from the style and sound this band has been putting out for their entire career, but that’s what makes this album the quality piece it is.

I have to commend these guys for their bravery – we currently have a music scene full of bands afraid to step out of their comfort zone.  Bands these days just carry on with the same sound forever, never branching out or pulling together new sounds and talents that could be brought to the table.  Instead of conforming to the norm, The Color Morale decided to do something that nobody could have ever seen coming – changed completely.  This album isn’t just a little change-up from an old sound, this album is a completely different band almost.  This sound is so new and genius, and fits so well with the theme of hope this band seems to be promoting.  “Know Hope” is a good mixture of hardcore, progressive metalcore, post-hardcore, ambient rock – I’ll just stop here, don’t really want to drag this on forever.  Moving on – this record is an excellent and refreshing piece of material that really tears right through the generic sound that is being presented in the post-hardcore scene today.  Everything from the beating of the drums to the sound of the vocals is very clear and consistent, and all strung together well, which makes an album like this one all the better.  This album isn’t simply “music” or “sound,” this is art.  This is a group of people putting their hearts into something, something they truly believe in.  “Know Hope” is a standout album and will have a place in my heart always.  This album is what happens when people to decide to stop being comfortable and start being progressive!  At this point, I know I’m droning on and dragging this out badly already, but I just wanted to point out one last thing.  I’m really impressed with the fact that they decided to go with the vocals without any auto-tuning at all, just raw voice.  That’s a very risky thing to do, especially if your voice can’t make the cut, but in this case the risk was definitely worth the reward, as Garrett’s natural voice is far better natural than any auto-tune could ever make it.

There is a slight tendency for the songs to sound the same at moments, but it’s incredibly rare – I only mention this because some people can be pretty picky when it comes to music, and I’m sure they’d want to know about this, even if it only is a very slight happening.  Also, everyone seems to be complaining that this album sounds like “one big song” – well, it sort of does.  This is a matter of taste, really.  Some people like a diverse album, some people like an album where everything comes together as one solid thing.  Neither makes the album bad, at all.  To me, this album was full of different sounds, though it did focus on a certain sound at its core.

I’ve got to say, “Learned Behavior” is still a thrill to me.  If you’ve ready my review of this song, you know exactly why – heck, if you’ve heard the song then you’ll know why.  This song represents everything this album is about, and promotes the sound it keeps up very well.  This is the perfect song to start with if you’re trying to get into the album.  It sounds so technical, so aggressive, and at the same time so melodic and full of feeling.

“Know Hope” is The Color Morale’s third full length album, and released on March the twenty-sixth through Rise Records.  There is so much more I could say about this album – so much I could just spend forever talking about, but I don’t want to take away from the time you could be spending listening to it!  You can pick this album up at Hot Topic, on iTunes or on the band’s merch site – grab it and get down with this sick piece of art!

Rating:  9.1 / 10

For Fans Of:  The Word Alive, For All I Am, Our Last Night