Very few bands ever stay the same throughout their entire career without being left behind, or cast aside. That being said, bands who do change up their sound sometimes end up alienating old fans in an attempt to make new ones, and that always gets tricky. Hit the Lights showed they weren't afraid to change things up a little with 2008's Skip School, Start Fights, a pop-rock party that followed the cryptic-yet-catchy pop-punk This is a Stick-Up...Don't Make it a Murder. Now, they've teamed up with Mike Sapone, most famous for his work with a little band called Brand New, and have a new album, Invicta, to show for it.
Before delving into the specifics of Invicta, it should be noted that it is a small miracle Hit the Lights have gotten this far. After switching vocalists between Stick-Up and Skip School, the band looked to make a leap into the bigger pond of major labels. Signed to Universal Republic, the band were unattended to and forgotten, and were forced to leave the label. Now, nearly four years after the release of Skip School, the band have found a (temporary) home at Razor & Tie, and are looking to make a splash in said bigger pond.
Opening track "Invincible" should prove to any Hit the Lights fan that the wait will produce something worthwhile. Pounding drums, impeccable gang vocals, and Nick Thompson's ever-developing voice provide a rallying call of an opener, and the track is as authentic as it is anthemic. The energy slows during "Gravity," which focuses on the album's best chorus, while third track "Earthquake" picks up right where "Invincible" left off. The first three tracks of Invicta will be rivaled by very few albums for the rest of 2012, as they seem to be bursting out of the band after such a long time in the label limbo line.
The band show their intentions of making a straight-up rock album throughout Invicta, but their ambitions are what slows the album at times. The middle portion of the album (most notably "Float through Me" and "All the Weight") seem to run together, and have very little standout moments, and the album seems to drag on a little too long after such a strong start. Hit the Lights certainly have the talent to provide a strong rock album, but Invicta shows the inevitable growing pains of a band trying to expand both their fanbase and their musical repertoire. This could fall on producer Sapone, who many will likely remember as the man who produced Brand New's classic The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me and Deja Entendu, along with Taking Back Sunday's definitive Tell All Your Friends. It would have been nice to see Sapone push the band to be more creative, as some of Invicta comes off a bit same-sounding. However, there are moments on nearly every song where the band sound, for lack of a better word, epic. Thompson's voice has improved immensely since the simplistic Skip School, Start Fights, and the band behind him continue to refine their craft, and Invicta's highs are certainly enough to outweigh the lows, and Hit the Lights seem to be on the fast track to be the next big thing.
The Bottom Line: If only for "Invincible," a contender for song of the year, Invicta is worth giving a shot. It has it's low points, but Hit the Lights have proved to be consistent enough for you to check them out.
Recommended if you rock: Every Avenue's Bad Habits, A Loss for Words's The Kids Can't Lose
-Donald Wagenblast
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