Hawthorne Heights: Fragile Future

For the members of Hawthorne Heights, along with their fans, November 24th, 2007 will be a day not soon forgotten. With the death of the band’s friend and fellow member, Casey Calvert, the Emo/Alternative rock band’s future seemed uncertain. But Hawthorne Heights didn't stop. They continued in honor of their fallen comrade with their August 5, 2008 release, Fragile Future.

According to the September issue of Alternative Press magazine, in two years of pre-production, the band had written, refined, discarded and re-written dozens of songs before settling with the ones for the record, which includes a couple dozen written with Calvert that sadly didn't make the cut.

"All the songs written after Casey's passing were written with him in our hearts," JT Woodruff told AP. The most obvious example of this is song number seven titled "Four Become One," which directly addresses Casey's death.

I'm listening to Fragile Future as I write this, and even though it's hard for me with the passing of Casey, it puts a smile on my face. The 12 track album, while undoubtedly different without Calvert's screams, is as good and wonderful as ever. There's a different sound with this one. The lyrics are more direct and to the point and, dare I say, it has more of a pop sound to it. It's obvious the band wanted to make this as different from their two previous records as possible; the sound is less darker and the lyrics possess a lot less angst.

So please fellow Hawthorne Heights fans, run, don't walk, down to your local record store and buy this album. I promise you will not be disappointed