A Hole Inside - The Face Of Ignorance [2010]

Genre: Post-Hardcore
Label: Unsigned
URL: http://www.myspace.com/aholeinside
Country: Borås, Sweden

These guys were nice enough to hand me their brand new album way before release, so I feel a little special!
I have to say that I'm really amazed how much they've improved since Steps We Have To Follow. The music has much better quality than earlier and the vocals are improved beyond better.
Opening the album with what feels like a very long intro somehow, even though it isn't. It probably doesn't make much sense what I said, but it feels like a good way to open the album. Right in the first song you hear the difference between this and their previous opus. Screaming is clearer and sounds better. Instrumentally they have real studio-quality in contrast with Steps. Due to the fact that they're unsigned they've done a good job producing this album for themselves.
Then comes one of the best tracks on the album, An Act Of Desperation. I have to admit I didn't like the clean vocals earlier, but somehow they sound different, yet very same. The chorus sounds very nice, and the piano-ridden interlude later on in the song feature nice low-pitched clean singing that sound really good. I'd think that it would be a good idea to have some of those low-pitched singing even in the musically energetic parts to create a certain contrast, thus shaping a unique sound for A Hole Inside.
The aforementioned improved clean vocals are also featured in a good manner in Bottoms Up with a very catchy chorus and melodic riffing.
The album then ends in an acoustic ballad well performed with beautiful lyrics - a nice closure.
All in all, this is a huge improvement on A Hole Inside's part and I'm very impressed. Even though the clean vocals do need a little more refining they do sound much better, as does everything else. I'm looking forward to hearing more from these guys.



Best song: An Act Of Desperation
Score: 7/10