It is very rare these days that I can pick up a new album and listen to it straight through without cringing or skipping a track.  Until We Surrender happens to be one of those albums.  Let’s start with a little background:  Heartsounds is comprised of Laura Nichol(Guitar, Vocals) and Ben Murray(Guitar, Drums, Vocals, Bass).  Nichols and Murray are both alumni of Light This City, a former death metal outfit from the bay area that disband last year.  Heartsounds is more akin to Lagwagon having sex with a Persian cat in the pop albums aisle at Best Buy. In other words, it rocks. Beautifully.

Until We Surrender is a beautiful album of punk rock harmonies and love songs that must be heard. Neither Nichols nor Murray is an amazing singer, but the way they layer their vocal harmonies is a thing to be experienced. The album starts with the fast paced “The Song Inside Me” and doesn’t let up until the very end of “Our Last Hope”. The death metal influence can definitely be heard in the double bass drum pattern that Murray lines the tracks with, and it works perfectly. The fast paced drums set the perfect background for the speedy guitars and harmonious lyrics.

If you’re a fan of old school harmonious punk like Unwritten Law or  Dogwood then you owe it to yourself to check out this wonderful record. And with that I’ll leave you with these insightful words of wisdom:

“I’ve found my true calling, and it sounds so fuckin good.”

Required listening:
MP3: “Slave to a Heart that Strays” – Heartsounds
MP3: “The Song Inside” – Heartsounds

• Creator Destructor Records
• Heartsounds Myspace Page
• Support Heartsounds on

While you're here, check out:

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2. Album Review: Two Door Cinema drops their first full-length album, Tourist History
3. [Album Review] Rogue Wave overdoses on filler for Permalight
4. [Album Review] Circa Survive – “Blue Sky Noise”
5. [Album Review] We Were Promised Jetpacks – “These Four Walls”