Music Review // Sicard Hollow "Brightest of Days"

https://open.spotify.com/album/0NkeS2vYYXpm0iU2ecNXJA

The music of Sicard Hollow has a very distinct style because right from the start you can hear the violin.   There are few artists who combine this level of rock with such strings on a main stage, so of course bands such as Yellowcard and Mumford & Sons are coming to mind right away.  Through everything else though, for the beginning of this album the one thing you should hear most are those melodies.

Catchy and easy on the ears, Sicard Hollow crafts songs about every day life in a way which feels like the working class is uprising.  Hints of that folk and country from John Denver to Neil Young come out in the spirit of this music even if they aren't as present in the sound.  The way "Escape the Unknown" starts also reminds me a bit of Flogging Molly, which is another one of those influences that might be more mainstream.

As we get further into the album, the song "Metamorphic Prophecy" feels like an album within itself as it has this intensity about it.  On top of that, there is a long musical break down which has those wah wah guitar chord sounds, which take it to a level of more psychedelic rock than what has felt like a pop punk feel up until now on this album.  But please don't mistake that for this being any less catchy at this point either.

No matter what point you happen to pick up this album at there is just that certain style to it that brings you in because it's so unique.  At its heart, it's pop punk in the same way that when I first heard Streetlight Manifesto I enjoyed them because they sounded like ska but very much so are something bigger, something more.  And I think that's true of Sicard Hollow.  You'll be drawn to them because of one sound at their roots but discover them to be so much bigger and so much more.