Album Review: Heroes For Hire

If you already kind of sound like New Found Glory, should you record with their guitarist Steve Klein? This could be a good debate however if you want to make pop-punk, may as well do it with one of the masters.

It seems to have paid off for Sydney's Heroes For Hire as this is their best sounding record so far. It is a complete carbon copy of New Found Glory in almost every way so points lost for lack of originality, but points gained for being able to do it so well. The most similar element is quite clearly the vocals, closely followed by everything else, but punk-pop never was a genre known for its diversity.

Successful punk-pop needs the hooks, and there are plenty of them to be found here along with a more mature all round sound for the band. The best example of this is the record's title track 'No Apologies', which features the finest chorus the group have ever produced with every section of the song worthy of repetition. There is of course the obligatory acoustic number, titled 'Nowhere At All', which toys with an electronic beat and touches of piano but stays on track for the campfire, hug your buddies sing-a-long which is was no doubt written to be.

The band include a couple of guest appearances, most notably Roger Lima of Less Than Jake on the other album stand out 'Face Without A Name', and I Call Fives front man Jeff Todd on the closing track 'Lords Of Blacktown'. Another impressive element, at times, is the guitar work, which every now and then breaks out in moments of brilliance, usually at the song’s pinnacle when a riff will poke its head out and elevate the song to a new level. Apart from these few moments however, everything else is pretty much paint-by-numbers.

What can really be said? This is straight up pop-punk. The recording sounds great, the songs are well written, catchy and relatively interesting, but for crying out loud, this sounds exactly like New Found Glory in every single way. If you can get past that, you will enjoy this record.

1. Rip Out My Guts

2. Skeletons

3. No Apologies

4. Set In Stone

5. Off With Their Heads

6. Face Without A Name

7. We're Only Just Getting Started

8. Weigh me Down

9. Cannonball

10. Waiting In The Dark

11. Nowhere At All

12. Lords Of Blacktown