Cleveland, Ohio’s How We Feel is modern rock with death and diversity, on the Ready For War album, written and performed by Chris Bianchi and Brian Lamtman. After knowing one another for over 20 years, the two got together and started recording a few songs in later 2024, and this album drops on May 2nd. With influences such as 30 Seconds To Mars, Shinedown, and Imagine Dragons, they demand your attention on that note alone, and Chris Bianchi is a must hear with great power vocals and lyrics. Together with Lamtman’s never-ending beat, they rock with the best this year has to offer.
Metal Blade signed Forever In Terror when Chris Biananchi was only 18, so he’s been around and that is why How We Feel is so good. The album launches with “Make It Out Alive” and you have to take a step back as it’s just getting started. Check out the videos, as the lyrics are important to all these songs. “Losing My Mind” is so good, I could go on about this one, but there’s eight more to go. “Devil Inside” is also a contender for some of the best material on How We Feel’s debut release.
Once you get to “Dragging Me Under” you’re going down the road to war at the end of the ride, with this song that just had to be made. Talk about pure insanity, what a headbanger. But it gets more intense as it goes with drama continuing with “Talk About Me” with its electro vocal parts by Chris Bianchi. Check out “Fire” for even more evidence, as the vocals get top marks and so does the song. “Looking For A Reason” is also a highlight on Ready For War, as the energy starts to decrease for a few moments before it comes crashing back.
“Dangerous” should be the ticket, albeit a short ride to the next loud point, as this is more or less a dance break in the action, taking a left turn but not a bad one, just a different one Chris Bianchi’s capable of. But it also makes way for the next songs, which finds Bianchi and Lamtman in full form together on “Higher” with some well-placed guitar riffing and vocal rapping between the choruses. If I were to rate any of these tracks one above the other, I would put this one above and beyond them all.
The LP Focus Track “Ready For War” closes out the album by placing the most lyrically descriptive song at the end, which deals mostly with what Bianchi describes as: “daily struggles and obstacles that many face be it through bills, relationships, daily life struggles but that love will always win.” The video for this track can be viewed, and the acted parts keep up with the lyrics and help tie the album together, for a release worth celebrating. How We Feel know how to make a truly good album, and Chris Bianchi is a future voice to reckon with.
Timothy Ball