{"id":30473,"date":"2013-03-11T15:43:16","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T15:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-hot-damn-sleep-alone\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:14:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:14:21","slug":"album-review-hot-damn-sleep-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-hot-damn-sleep-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Hot Damn &#8211; Sleep Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/sleepalone.jpg\" width=\"150\" title=\"\">This is up-and-coming South Wales pop-punkers <strong>Hot Damn\u2019s<\/strong> third release, <em>\u2018Sleep Alone\u2019.<\/em> This eight track mini-album finally starts to deliver on what the band have been promising in live shows and marks the band out as one of a fresh crop of Welsh pop-punk bands including fellow countrymen Neck Deep. There is more than a hint of Transit to the record, with tinges of their native Wales also showing through (Funeral for a Friend seems to be a distinct influence also, as well as cult British band Basement.)<\/p>\n<p><em>&lsquo;Sleep Alone&rsquo;<\/em> showcases a sound that is more refined than their previous two releases and sees the band finally settle into a distinctive creative style. It opens with <em>\u2018Sincerity\u2019,<\/em>\u00a0a brooding Transit-esque guitar riff making way to desperate vocals and an urgent yet catchy chorus. This theme continues into \u2018<em>Worn Out\u2019.<\/em> The band produces intelligent pop-punk with not just heart, but soul too.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018I\u2019d Hate Me Too\u2019<\/em> settles into a groove that is half-<em>&#8216;Suburbia&rsquo;<\/em>-era Wonder Years storytelling and half-You Me At Six rock anthem. It\u2019s a great space to occupy and it produces the most accomplished moment on the album. The band are at the best when they straddle the bleak and the joyous; often the bleak appears to win out but with an undercurrent of catchy, smile-inducing pop-punk hidden just under the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Closing the album is <em>\u2018Nosebleed\u2019.<\/em> Masterful and melancholy, it opens with palm-muted guitars and a haunting guitar riff before launching an all-out assault to leave an impression on your memory which it does with some aplomb.<\/p>\n<p>This is a self-assured and confident release that certainly rises above the ordinary. In my opinion, this band are the best of the current crop of pop-punk bands coming out of Wales; they may lack the hype of Neck Deep but these guys are hot, damn! (Honestly, it\u2019s better than my awful wordplay makes it seem.) If you\u2019re a fan of honest, infectious punk rock in the style of Transit, Basement et al you\u2019d be doing yourself a favour in searching out<em> \u2018Sleep Alone\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Sleep Alone\u2019<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0<strong>Hot Damn<\/strong>\u00a0is released on 26th March through\u00a0<strong>We Are Triumphant<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hot Damn<\/strong>\u00a0links:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hotdamnuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/hotdamnuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/hotdamnuk.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Tom White.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is up-and-coming South Wales pop-punkers Hot Damn\u2019s third release, \u2018Sleep Alone\u2019. This eight track mini-album finally starts to deliver on what the band have been promising in live shows and marks the band out as one of a fresh crop of Welsh pop-punk bands including fellow countrymen Neck Deep. There is more than a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[10804,150,12606,7068],"class_list":["post-30473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-hot-damn","tag-music","tag-sleep-alone","tag-we-are-triumphant"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Hot Damn - Sleep Alone - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is up-and-coming South Wales pop-punkers Hot Damn\u2019s third release, \u2018Sleep Alone\u2019. 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