New England post-hardcore/metalcore band Saving Vice have released their long-awaited debut album, Hello There, as of Friday the 22nd. A solid record that showcases the band’s styles well enough, it really does lie somewhere between modern post-hardcore and metalcore. You might even well say that if this was 2010, they’d be on Rise Records!
The band’s hard work since their inception just a few years ago has really paid off. Saving Vice have hit an impressive 40k+ monthly listeners on Spotify, played iMatter Festival multiple times, and they’ve done all of this as an independent act with no label backing. Of course, being on a label means less than it did even 5 years ago, but that’s not the point – Saving Vice have backed their solid musical abilities with the work ethic that’s needed to succeed in today’s oversaturated market.
We’re excited to bring you a track-by-track overview of each song on Hello There, as well – so give that a read below and jam the new album as well. Especially “Black Briar” – it encapsulates the band’s overall sound very well, too.
Before I Go-
This song is basically about people who just spend all their time hating other people. Whether it be out of jealousy, spite, or just bias. So many people spend more time tearing other people down instead of doing anything with themselves. This kind of thing especially because of social media has made spreading misinformation, defamation, and cancel culture really trendy and way too easy and a lot of the time people will outright lie or make things up just because they don’t like something or someone and they don’t care about the damage done or how it makes people feel. The message of the song is that they can’t effect you unless you engage with them because at the end of the day if everyone just ignores these kinds of people they lose all their power. -Tyler
Never Knows Best-
This one is about a lot of different aspects of toxic relationships or just letting go of someone you need to move on from, whether it’s over heartbreak or the person was emotionally or otherwise abusive and manipulative. A lot of people can’t find the strength to leave something behind they know is hurting them, often because they don’t know how to be alone. This will make someone sometimes stay in a really toxic relationship just so they can be in a relationship. The song is sort of a tie in to our song “Black Eyes” which painted love as an addiction and the withdrawal effect it can have on you when you lose it. Even when it’s bad for you. -Tyler
Endgame-
This song was inspired and sort of honors the Marvel Infinity Saga. There were many messages through out it, and one big focus was just the conviction and resolve the heroes and even the villains had. Thanos especially was always such a fascinating character because although he was evil you couldn’t help but see his point of view and a lot of the lyrics highlight how far he was willing to go for his belief. I’ve always been inspired by movies and cinema and these movies had just as much of an emotional impact on me as a lot of music does and I wanted to write about things that really made me feel on this record regardless of what it was. – Tyler
Nerve Damage-
Nerve Damage’s inspiration came from a personal obstacle of getting over a physically abusive relationship. But the meaning is meant to be open for anybody and everybody, it’s important to not let anyone or anything drag you down, hurt you, or hold you back in life. You, your feelings and your needs will always be important and shouldn’t be under-minded in any relationship, romantic or otherwise. -Chase
Eyes Up-
This song holds so much personal weight it’s hard to condense it into a single statement. The short version is I gave up on music after my last band and when SV started out we had so many crazy things happen so fast that it seemed nothing could stop us. We called it “SV magic” because basically anything we did went amazing or led to another success, “eyes up” was a lyric in our song “Once More” talking about how much time I wasted not pursuing my dream. Last year things got really hard for this band and we were at at tipping point. We were all depressed and fighting all the time, one friend of ours said “you guys don’t like each other, I always thought a band was supposed to be you and your friends making music together” and it really hit me hard. We remembered why we were doing this and pulled it all back to where it was in 2018 and the phrase just had even more power so we used that for the title. It’s also a phrase most of our fans have referenced over the years so we knew it would resonate. That was the “short” version. -Tyler
Echoes From the Gutter-
This song is about the counter productivity that comes from bands hating on one another. The music scene, regardless of genre should be about people coming together to appreciate and revel in the music, just having a good time and supporting one another but sadly not everybody agrees on that point. It pains me to see people hold themselves back by focusing all their energy into dragging others down. The very people who constantly brag and claim to represent the scene are most often the one’s destroying it. -Chase
Broken Window-
The title of the song is referring to the “Overton Window”. The basic concept is that there are things that are simply right and wrong, good and evil and the past few years have mad people comfortable with taking something horrible and treating it like it’s just an opinion when it has real world consequences and impacts other people. There is a blatant disregard for the self destructive apathy our entire species has towards the planet and each other and it often feels like we’re a poison because we are so divided over things that simply to not matter. It’s infuriating when people try to call having empathy for others or remotely any morals a “political opinion” so they can justify dismissing it. -Tyler
Something I hate to see but I believe we all have been witness to, is history repeating itself. It seems that as we continue forward as a society we have made noticeable mistakes and as much as most of us hate to see what appears to be us taking “two steps back”, it seems like that’s not enough to prevent it from happening. This song, coming from my perspective is the description of us knowingly regressing but being in no place to be able to stop it. -Chase
Hollow Bastion-
This song is about basically growing older and all of the feelings and fears that come with it. You find yourself looking back at everything and nostalgia can be such a powerful thing. Focusing on the past can prevent you from living life to the fullest. I constantly look back to when I was so carefree and the world was all in front of me and full of hope , the title as well as a few lyrics are references to Kingdom Hearts because that game was such a huge deal to me when I was a kid and a lot of the messages in it really resonated with the feelings I had writing the song. But basically the message is to not waste your time stagnating and that it’s never too late to live your dream or change your life.
So Safe-
So I wrote this when I was at a point in my two year coast to coast long distance relationship with my girlfriend where I was constantly being stretched between her and the band. The time and money to see her vs. the time and money I needed to devote to SV were starting to battle each other and it obviously sucked more and more being apart. We never knew if and when we’d see each other but we stuck it out and she never made me pick between the band and her. She moved her whole life across the country to be with me so I could stay close to the band because she believed in us and Saving Vice. She would always say “be so safe” every time I said goodbye to her so that’s where the name comes from. I get a lot of messages asking for advice on long distance and this song was for those people as well as her. -Tyler
The Black Briar-
This song is pretty is basically about what the twins on the album cover represent. The entire album is a journey of anger, hope, love, depression and in the end no matter what you will always have to live with your doubts and fears. The “black briar” basically is a metaphor for the dark place in your thoughts where your anxiety and demons plague and stalk you. People don’t often take mental health seriously and sometimes it’s frustrating when people especially family members don’t empathize with you or give useless and condescending advice on how to deal with it. In the end you will have good and bad days but you will always have to live with what’s in your own head. -Tyler
