Boy Becomes Hero is a post-hardcore outfit from Kalamazoo, Michigan that delivers thrashing anthems and melodic breakdowns.
Boy Becomes Hero, with a partnership with To Write Love On Her Arms, is dedicated to creating a musical experience across the post-hardcore scene and sub-genres while raising awareness for depression, self-harm, addiction and suicide.
Their debut LP Reverie is mixed and mastered by Kris Crummett (Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping with Sirens, Issues, Closure In Moscow).
The album Reverie is a story, narrated by Katsuben (Kurt Travis), that follows a boy named Tsukuyo (Andrew Brittingham), through his battle with the evil that has consumed his past, present, and his future.
In this story, he is constantly reminded of the words his mother, Tennin (Darina Kayukova), said in her last hours, which give him the strength to overcome.
Tsukuyo is accompanied on his journey by Ninjen (Garret Rapp); and Mizuchi (Aaron Gillespie); and Susanoto (Sam Kohl); who are from Songkran. Songkran is a city underwater that becomes home for Tsukuyo where Ninjen, Mizuchi , and Susanoto help him to find his strength to avenge his birth place.
Reverie is explained in the music and lyrics alike. The opening track starts out with powerful spoken word by Kurt Travis and morphs into a mesmerizing ballad that warms the listener up for what’s to come. The use of instruments like violin add to the feeling similar to something like The Dear Hunter. There are also a fair amount of hard breakdowns and unclean vocals throughout Reverie which makes for a very balanced listen from front to back.
That being said, this record is extremely diverse. The mixture of emotions and influences fuses perfectly into one of the most ambitious and listenable records I’ve heard in the last 12 months.
Not only was it impressive to me that Boy Becomes Hero could come up with and execute such a complex concept record. It was equally, if not more impressive that they managed to get some of the strongest talents in the genre to lend parts to this beautifully crafted piece of work.
For anyone who is a fan of progressive rock and is getting tired of everything sounding like a carbon copy, I implore you to listen to Boy Becomes Hero’s new album. I can say with confidence you won’t be disappointed.
Listen to Reverie in it’s entirety below:
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