Sometimes I make mistakes. When I was in kindergarten I crossed in the middle of the street and was promptly hit by car. In the fifth grade I decided to ride my brakeless bike down the steepest hill in my home town. I made it about halfway down. When I was a senior I skipped my girlfriend's piano recital to hang out with another girl. I got slugged in the nuts.
A few months ago I was adding every cool new hardcore band on Myspace to be cool because only the coolest hardcore kids have the latest and greatest bands on their Myspace, and I would not be left out in the cold. I remember kids babbling on and on about some band on the B9er that was called Count the Days or something. I quickly did a search to check them out and nothing came up besides Counting the Days. Close enough. Add.
You can imagine my chagrin when I found out the band I was supposed to add was Count the Hours from Bellingham, WA and not Counting the Days from Glen Burnie, MD. Oops. Oh well, I didn't have the heart to just not be e-friends with a band I accidentally added. So I let Counting the Days take up residence with the 200+ bands I have as my friends.
A couple of weeks ago I was at the Mall of America, which is always one big mistake on its own, lurking around Hot Topic (yup a day of mistakes) and I see Counting the Days Finding a Balance in the CD bin and decided to purchase it because I wanted to punish myself and my wallet for adding the wrong band. That's what I get, damnit, for shame.
My trail of mistakes stopped after listening to Finding the Balance. Counting the Days play a very energetic style of heart wrenching hardcore that is really big with the kids these days. I hear an equal mix of American Nightmare, Champion, Modern Life is War, and Count Me Out which adds up to pleasant slab of emotional hardcore. Finding the Balance is as fast as it is furious. It should appease anyone on the dance floor who feels the need to two-step or throw some fingers in the air as well as lonely nights in your room trying to figure out when it all went wrong.
Lyrically, Counting the Days cover the bases of growing older and not finding a place in the world that almost any 20 something can relate it. Hell, even this 31 year old can take solace in that type of lyrical content as I wake every day and try to struggle through another shit-filled day.
So by making one mistake I happen to stumble across a decent band which doesn't happen very often in these days of mosh metal and other uninspired hardcore clones. Finding a Balance is a satisfying new school hardcore album that may not be overflowing with originality but I get the feeling that Counting the Days have their hearts in the right place and that's all I need these days to like a hardcore band. Some mistakes are just worth making.
