HILDAMAY – WE LOVED, WE LOST
Released 5th September 2011 (A Wolf At Your Door Records)

Words: Chris Seddon

I’d not heard of Hildamay until I was sent this album. I hit play and gave it a few hours of back to back listens. My initial thoughts were “It’s a bit average”. Maybe this is because I was trying to do something else at the same time because when I actually sat down & listened to the album, I started to like it.

I don’t like to compare bands to other bands. Feels like lazy reviewing. It does help you lot to get an idea as to what they sound like though, so I’ll bend my rules a bit. If Hot Water Music, Lower Than Atlantis & Circa Survive somehow morphed into one band, they could sound something like Hildamay. The gruff vocals sounding like HWM, the heavy punk rock bits sounding like LTA and the melodic layered guitar bits sounding like Circa Survive. There. Comparisons over.

It’s not a long album, running at 7 tracks & 23 minutes in length. I think at the moment, that’s a plus for the band. There are moments when the album sounds like it needs an injection of something else. For me, that’s always going to be “It needs more massive riffs!” But the fact that it’s so short stops it from getting boring, and helps each track stand out.

Whether they listen to me or not, I look forward to trying to see them live and seeing how they develop. Good to hear UK bands that are doing something a little different, and Hildamay fall under that category.

Oh, and I’ve just noticed a bit that reminds me of Thrice too!