WITH HONOR have today announced signing to Pure Noise Records, as well announcing a remixed and remastered version of their debut album “Heart Means Everything”.
[UPDATE September 17th] The full re-mastered offering has been made available for streaming.
“Heart Means Everything”, was one of the first albums to be recorded at GodCity, the recording studio run by Converge’s Kurt Ballou. In 2020, Kurt found the original tapes and decided to remix and remaster the record. Originally the album was released June 2004 was the follow-up to the previous year’s self-titled debut EP, and established the Connecticut band as a true force within the hardcore scene.
Initially released on Stillborn Records, the label run by Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta, it was a blistering, full-frontal sonic attack that saw the band play and tour with a whole bunch of their heroes, including Shai Hulud, Stretch Armstrong, Hatebreed, Bane, Sick Of It All, and Agnostic Front, to name a few. Seventeen years later, it’s an album – thanks to this re-release on Pure Noise – that remains every bit as potent and powerful. In fact, it’s even more so. “We always felt like the album needed that extra something”, says guitarist Jay Aust:“The record was one of the first albums Kurt from Converge recorded at his newly relocated studio, so he was still getting the hang of it. So, we’re stoked to get it out remixed and remastered. It sounds much more like what we all wanted”.
This remixed and remastered version of the record brings to the forefront the raw adrenaline that courses through its veins. From the bellicose rush of opener “Rethink, Return” to the intense, passionate, and determined energy of “All Hope Aside”, the visceral positivity of “Milwaukee”, and the epic call-to-action of closer “When Will We Learn”, “Heart Means Everything” truly lives up to its title all these years later.
While guided by the band’s punk/hardcore principles, it’s not in the least bit didactic or condescending. Rather, it asks questions about the nature of existence and humanity, and searches for answers it knows it doesn’t have. Because nobody has them. “Obviously a lot has changed since we made it,” says Aust, “but I think some of the core messages still apply. We were young guys exploring the world and finding out who we were. Coming back to it now, you can really see that youthful energy – and the more idealistic view of the world that we had back then”.
