Album Review: The Hours: It's Not How You Start It's How You Finish

"Everybody gets knocked down/How quick are you gonna get up," Hours' vocalist Antony Genn asks in "Ali In The Jungle." In actuality it's not a question so much as a command. Genn and bandmate Martin Slattery's debut release It's Not How You Start, It's How You Finish, contains many more of these self-empowerment platitudes.

"When you're goin'  through hell/You gotta keep going," Genn urges in "These Days," another take-life-by-the-balls anthem. "I need something to believe in/Before I lose my mind," he sings with an undercurrent of urgency. And if there is one recurring lyrical theme on It's Not How You Start, it's that there's little time to waste. For The Hours, the world is going to hell in a hand basket, and its time for humanity to rise up and save both it and ourselves. Apathy is a dirty word. As Genn sings in "Big Black Hole," "It's time to cut the umbilical cord/And stand up on your own."

Artist Profile: The Hours

Just when you though Coldplay had a monopoly on moody, melodic get-your-lighters-out Brit-pop, along comes The Hours. Packing their music with all the right elements--huge choruses, driving guitars and piano licks, big drums and sharp lyrics delivered with undeniably earnest emotion--the London-based band seems poised to become the next big thing in rock. Take a listen to a few tracks off It's Not How You Start, It's How You Finish, and watch the group's video for "See The Light" below:

Find more artists like The Hours at MySpace Music

Find more artists like The Hours at MySpace Music

The Hours - "See The Light" 2010 Edit from Adeline Records on Vimeo.