House of Heroes- The End Is Not The End (Classic Review) + The Acoustic End EP (NEW)

House of heroes was not a band that I was familiar with prior to their sophomore release. All of the hype about them finally making a new album prompted me to check them out. And I am very glad I did. House of Heroes left their fans hanging for a whopping four years after their first release (with only two new songs on their re-release to fill the gap) and now, finally, they return with The End Is Not The End.

The End Is Not The End is an album with a little bit of a concept to it, since many of the songs have something to do with World War II. The opening instrumental track leads into the catchy love song "If." The song makes for a great opening track, and is immediately followed by the album's hardest rocking track, "Lose Control." "In The Valley Of The Dying Sun" is a pretty different song dealing with a man who thinks God is his enemy and ends up fighting him and realizing that God was not his enemy. Musically it is a very diverse song, skipping to various tempos, and allowing lead vocalist Tim Skipper to use his falsetto voice more. "Code Name: Raven" is another really catchy song, declaring, "I'd rather die than live without mercy and love." "By Your Side", the song that the album title is derived from, slows the album down for a bit, and actually sounds very nice, telling the story of a man going to war. The second half of the album shows HOH's punk side a little bit more than the first. "Journey Into Space, Pt. 1" and "Drown" have very similar sounding openings, but are still very good songs.

If you bought The End Is Not The End in CD form at one of HOH's shows before March 09, the album closes at "Field of Daggers," a very good closing song.

If you bought The End Is Not The End on iTunes, the last song is "The Young And The Brutal," a hidden track on the previous to March copy. It's a very fun and fast paced song, which fans of "Friday Night" from Say No More will appreciate.

The Acoustic End EP has the two acoustic tracks that took the place of "The Young And The Brutal" for the in-stores release in March. They are both very good songs, although some may find "Ghost" to be a sad and somewhat negative song, as it deals with the life of a man who "fell in with the wrong crowd." Not found on the CD release is the acoustic reworking of "If," which has a little bit of a quicker tempo.

So, in the end (which we know is not really the end), The End Is Not The End blew me away. It is an almost entirely flawless work, sure to make you tap your feet at one point or another, and slowing it down just at the right points. It's an almost perfect blend of songs, and there is not one that I would skip while listening to the album. This is why The End Is Not The End, is--in my opinion--one of the best albums to hit the Christian music market in a very long time.