We Got High Hopes…
The metalcore subgenre pulls another home-grown talent under its umbrella, High Rise dig their incisive fingers deep into your skin and begin to pick and poke around until their hearts content. Echoes of While She Sleeps, and Our Hollow Our Home and you get the idea of where these lads are headed.
“I’m honestly afraid of what I’ve become” and we’re under starters orders with “My Solitude, Your Hope” and you know this isn’t going to end well. Life unfortunately isn’t all lashings of ginger beer and daisy chains.
In “The Fight” we hear “Why would I ever decide to be this way?” and we think about how we may feel trapped in a tunnel where there is no light. In fact, someone once said “there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it’s just someone with a torch shovelling more shit in my direction”. I thought it was quite funny at first but listening to this record and what it means in terms of our struggles that quote makes a lot of sense.
With “Ghost In My Mind” we have a declaration “for I am lonely” a tragic reality of our society today, when loneliness is considered a contributing factor to depression and melancholia.
As humans we need to admit our flaws, our weaknesses to be able to progress. This record is an acceptance and acknowledgement of endurance and capacity to move on. It seems like an unrealistic target, but our “Endeavours” will surely bear fruit in the long term.
“Its been six whole years since we last said a word” it may seem impossible but believe me it can be done. As time passes us by, water flows under the bridge, and its hard to get back to a position where you can be comfortable to make amends or start over. Its what can make or break a relationship and can seem like a lot of strife to even begin to try.
We dive across the finish line with “Haunting Me” and we end this short, sharp but scarily sweet album. A potent mix of self -loathing, fear, assimilation and retribution of sorts, brutally honest and scathing in its outlook, maybe we all need to look a little deeper and find where we are going wrong.
Apologies if I sound too philosophical but that’s just how it goes sometimes, meanwhile.
we got high apple pie in the sky hopes….
Azra Pathan
High Rise – Endeavours out 29th March on self- release