Album Review: Hawthorne Heights - 'Midwesterners: The Hits'

It has happened plenty of times before, a record label releases a “greatest hits” album for a successful band who has left their roster in a last ditch effort to make some more dollars out of them. Usually, the band is in no way at the point in their career that a 'best of' compilation can be justified, and for Hawthorne Heights, 'Midwesterners' is a little pre-mature. Also the fact that only about a quarter of the songs on the play list were actually singles is a slight contradiction to the record's name.

The band themselves had no hand in the creation of this collection and the back cover of the case even contains a spelling error, Angels is spelt Angles, so the effort and care that has gone into the production of this album is clearly lacking. The songs themselves are comprised of the band's first three albums, the Victory Records ones, 2004's 'The Silence In Black And White,' 2006's 'If Only You Were Lonely,' and 2008's 'Fragile Future.'

For a band that in this reviewers opinion, has become progressively worse over time, this compilation certainly backs up that theory. Earlier tracks such as Ohio Is For Lovers and Silver Bullet exhibit a style and energy that, back in the day, made Hawthorne Heights one of the “emo punk” genre leaders. As time rolled on the band's music became less adventurous, and tracks like Rescue Me and Come Back Home, seemed to be going through the motions, trying to replicate the sound of the past. The 'Fragile Future' era was a particularly dark time for the band due to the extremely unfortunate death of guitarist/singer Casey Calvert.

The record is capped off by an acoustic version of Silver Bullet which was available on the re-issue of the first album, and Angels (or Angles) With Even Filthier Souls, a song taken from a three way split record with Hit The Lights and The Red Affair, back when the band was called A Day In The Life.

Fans of the band will find nothing new on this unnecessary, and borderline shameful, money spinner, but for those who are looking for a summary of Hawthorne Heights, this collection is a good snapshot of what the band were like in their prime.

01. Life On Standby

02. The Transition

03. Silver Bullet

04. Ohio Is For Lovers

05. Niki FM

06. Saying Sorry

07. This Is Who We Are

08. Dead In the Water

09. Where Can I Stab Myself In The Ears

10. Pens And Needles

11. Rescue Me

12. Somewhere In Between

13. Come Back Home

14. Four Becomes One

15. Silver Bullet (Acoustic)

16. Angels With Even Filthier Souls