These Hearts

Yours to Take

HM Album Reviews

Yours to Take

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The mixture of pop punk and hardcore puts Yours to Take, the third full-length album from the North Dakota-based band These Hearts, into the sub-genre dubbed popcore, though the album leans heavily toward the pop punk side of the spectrum. Some of the songs have an effortless transition between the two genres, such as “This is Love,” featuring Bert Poncet from the French band Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! A lot of times, though, the breakdowns and other hardcore elements feel like they were thrown in as an afterthought. Even the heaviest song, “War,” which features Mattie Montgomery of For Today, struggles to stay heavy for long. And “Psycho,” “Been Through Hell” and “Undecided Story” are strictly pop punk. The final song, “Never Mind Me,” opens acoustically and crescendos into catchy punk, is perhaps the best on the album. These Hearts has a decision to make – either shed the hardcore elements and focus on the pop punk, or figure out an innovative way to more effectively meld the two genres together to really shine as a popcore band.

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