Household – ‘Time Spent’ Review

Posted: by Sean Gonzalez

Minnesota’s Household is the amalgamation of the last ten years of hardcore music and it’s subgenres. I am 100% serious, they wrote an album, Time Spent, that fuses about every element of hardcore into 13 songs. The young band have a lot of ambition and know their roots well enough to force their influences into their music and never look back. 

It’s hard to even choose which style of music this band plays best, but there is no doubt that the amount of passion the band has makes it more fun to listen to. The band pulls off the emotive sounds that make Gatherers and Taking Back Sunday enjoyable, while adding bright guitar layers in these sections, like the majority of the song ‘Wistern.’ When they need to, they have the ability to speed into a punk section like the old school punk that bled through the 80s. Not sure if you need a breakdown? Well never fear, Household can pull that off too, like the breakneck ‘Try Hard.’ Their beatdown is short lived but enough of a change to remind listeners of Stray From The Path before folding back into As Cities Burn style post-hardcore.

It’s the diverse spontaneity that keeps Time Spent being able to be played. Joshua Gilbert’s raw vocals keep the spark alive through the winding guitar parts. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking, but fresh in the sense that this is one of the few bands I have heard openly want to be diffused through various genre labels. It’s a relief to see a young band deciding to write whatever the hell they want and not be frightened of what gets brought to the table. ‘I’ve Been Places’ is one of the best songs on here, being urgent and forceful with, “do I have to love right, do I have be so strong?” The lyrics across the entire record are full of questions, bringing out enough reflection to force the listener to sit in tranquility and think.

It’s hard to sit here and describe just what Household can sound like. Blistering guitar riffs meet spastic drums patterns added to desperate pleas for life to take notice. Don’t sleep on this album, because Time Spent is one that can drive home plenty of familiarity but with an extra grace of energy. Take the effort and stream the album below, it’s worth all the core nostalgia.

Score: 7.5/10

Stream here!  http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/household_blood_ink_records_transcend_the_status_quo_on_time_spent_exclusiv