Secondhand Habit – Contact High CD

Secondhand Habit is a Canadian alternative rock quartet hailing from Victoria, British Columbia. The group is devoted to merging essentials of subgenres of alternative rock music since their formation. So far, they’ve released recordings such as Anaphylactic Rock EP, Chinese Whispers EP, and From The Ashes EP. The group toured Canada multiple times, featuring highlights such as two showcase dates at CMW and a performance in Stanley Park at the Oasis Rock n Roll Marathon. Secondhand Habit also opened for acts such as Electric Six, Dead Quiet, Nashville Pussy, We Hunt Buffalo, and Daniel Wesley. These highly experienced musicians are paving their way to the top by shaping alternative rock by their likings, and they’re succeeding in their strivings through quite an engaging approach.

Contact High represents their newest release comprised of seven perfectly executed compositions. The group wisely took advantage of streaming services and social media, and heavily promoted the material through a series of singles such as Bad Habit, Hey, Get Back, Soundwaves, Next To None, and Choice Change Choice. Besides the predominant presence of alternative rock, Secondhand Habit incorporates essentials of stoner rock, grunge, post-grunge, hard rock, and metal music. All these elements are hearable throughout the entire recording, unified in a polyphonous harmony. Judging by the overall listening experience, it seems that the band feels completely comfortable while performing. Their sound is enormously compact, stable, and every involved instrument bursts with tremendous confidence.

Considering the number of musical genres involved in their sound, you might expect a chaotic appearance, cacophonous compositions, and poorly executed arrangements, but that’s not the case at Contact High. Secondhand Habit undoubtfully considered every aspect of their latest offering to the broader auditorium that bursts with exceptional musicianship, outstanding ideas, and professionalism. The sound spans from the eighties hard rock and metal to nineties alternative rock and grunge, but Secondhand Habit doesn’t stop there. The band somehow managed to stack up some contemporary articulations, characteristic for modern alternative rock, indie, and post-grunge.

Both guitars are emitting enormous amounts of power by firing ear-appealing guitar shreds to the atmosphere. Guitars are continuously dueling and pairing to each other through various thoughtfully arranged melodic technicalities. The warm-sounding bass guitar surrenders enough low-end tones to support these dualities but also fulfills the ambiance with some pretty impressive movements. Nothing would sound so compact without an outstanding drumming performance that liberates various rhythmical sequences, a full specter of diverse accentuations, and furious drum fills. The excellent lead vocals are leading the listeners throughout the complete recording with such confidence and stability. He wisely incorporates both ferocious shoutouts and melodic chants to depict marvelous sonic imagery that vividly represents the sound of Secondhand Habit.

For those who’re looking out for a more precise description of their sound, Secondhand Habit resembles the sound of heavyweights, such as Alice In Chains, Faith No More, Mastodon, Baroness, Kylesa, Screaming Trees, or Nirvana. However, the band never intended to mimic the sound of these groups and keeps performing in their distinctive manner. Contact High comes on a compact disc housed in a jewel case, accompanied by eye-peeling illustrations. No matter if we’re talking about the front cover artwork or the artworks hidden inside the CD booklet, each presented illustration goes with this material. Contact High is available directly from a Secondhand Habit on their Bandcamp page, but you can also check out their record at Spotify.