Hawthorne Heights

If Only You Were Lonely Version A
$15.98
The editorial review for this album makes me sick (reproduced below and possibly just above). Who hypes the album in the review like this? Pathetic. The only thing going down in history is the day HH released a steaming pile of garbage on delusional fans.
"HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS are set to make February 28, 2006 a day that will go down in history. After spending the fall of 2005 holed up in the studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS have surfaced with a painfully beautiful album that is nothing short of the biggest rock record of 2006."

The Silence in Black and White
$15.98
Note: I'm really sick of all the anti-emo reviews that have been flooded on amazon about the band/album. First of all, this isn't emo. If you want emo, check out pedro the lion, sunny day real estate or early JEW and go from there. Secondly, despite later releases, TSIBAW is still a very solid listen for fans of Silverstein, Thursday and even Thrice. If medium heavy core rock isn't your thing, move along. There's nothing here for you anyway.

The Overview: The Silence In Black and White is the debut record from Victory records mainstays Hawthorne Heights. It gained the band modest success with the singles Ohio Is For Lovers and Niki FM.

The Hits: Obviously, Ohio Is For Lovers is probably the strongest song here. But really, they're all worth a listen.

The Misses: Nothing noteable, save for Silver Bullet, which is borderline filler.

The Verdict: Hawthorne Heights have since undergone some major changes since the release of TSIBAW, both musically and in their line-up. If Only You Were Lonely (2006) saw the band drop most of the screamo and shift into pop-punk, and following the tragic death of a fellow band member, 2008's Fragile Future completely shifted the band into pop-rock territory. Still, TSIBAW is a key must have for fans of the softer side of hardcore.

If Only You Were Lonely Version B
$13.99
Um...I think these guys are good, but they have to decide what genre they want to be. Are they trying to be emo, screamo, metal? I'm confused.

All the songs sound the same. The only ones I recognize when I have my iPod on shuffle are "Dead in the Water" and "Decembers".

The songs all have the same theme. They need to vary a little bit.

Their voices are soft. This clashes disasterously with the screaming. Either they should stop singing so softly, or stop screaming.

-That was a lot of negative stuff, but there are good things too.

Their music is good. Not too harsh, not too mellow (except for Decembers).

The reason I think their songs are all about the same thing is because they are trying to tell a story. The pictures prove that.

Their music is good to put on when you're writing a story or dark poetry (like I do). It's also good to put on when you're mad and just want to drown out the world (again, with the exception of Decembers. It's just too painfully mellow and slow. cough-they-sing-about-butterflies-cough)

...My final overview is, if you can find it cheap, buy it. I'd say under five dollars would be reasonable. You only need one version of it. I don't know why you'd buy two. But whatever. I'd wait for their next one anyways to judge them. They still have room for improvement.

Ohio Is For Lovers
$0.99