At the dawn of this decade, the landscape of Post-Hardcore was filled with long hair, breakdown riffs, and a bit of a generic nature. If you’ve heard one post-hardcore band, there wasn’t much to set them apart from the crowd. This is not to say that the genre is not enjoyable, as there was plenty of variation to the formula, but it took a good deal for a band to truly stand out with their sound and create an album that has lasting power.

Enter Lead Hands (formerly known as Decoder). Born from artists of bands such as OCEANA, Of Machines, and VersaEmerge, this 2011 effort did what the majority of bands could not do – sound exceptionally unique. The acts that these musicians came from had bits and pieces of the Lead Hands sound, but, as they came together, so did a wondrous sound that music had not yet discovered and was not ready for.

What Lead Hands excel at is their implementation of ambiance through the drone of the rhythm guitars and the frequent use of soft keyboard runs in the background. Matt Malpass, who produced records for wildly-different bands like Relient K, Lydia, and Manchester Orchestra, found himself branching out of his comfort zone in handling this release. The harsh unclean vocals of Keith Jones (previously of OCEANA, currently of Chandelier) accompanied Spencer Pearson’s (VersaEmerge) somber lyrics that painted a haunting landscape that the illustration of the incredible album art details.

The aforementioned lyrics are grim and depressive. In “The Giver,” Jones starts off with “This is what I’ve always wanted for myself, and I feel so effortless in my voice; this is the life that I have chosen and I feel so lost”. Jones concedes that his efforts are in vain, that no matter how much he gives, his desires are for naught due to his indecision of what he truly wanted – for himself or for his partner, as further evidenced by the lyrics “And there is nothing left of the man I used to be; loveless, there is nothing left. I left her somewhere, this was invisible”.

In tandem with the dreary lyrics, the instrumentation on this record is marvelous. Whether it be the surreal atmosphere of the opening of the record’s “Dreamwalker” compact, furious “The Taker” leading straight into the calculated slow pace of “Drones”, the album is a cohesive unit where no song feels the same, despite the shared “dreamy” aesthetic. The desperateness and discord felt in the closing track “Holding On” wraps a bow on the album perfectly.

I had the pleasure of seeing Lead Hands perform live, supporting Go Radio, Emarosa, and Chiodos, at The House Cafe in Dekalb, IL in early 2011. As they were the opening act, the crowd was none-too-pleased, but I was engrossed. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the band’s electric performance, which was matched by their strong musicianship. If I could go back, now that I have a deeper connection to the band, I would be front and center, screaming every word back. Their music is THAT infectious to me.

The otherworldly self-titled Lead Hands will go over the heads of many Post-Hardcore fans, as it was a flash in the pan. As of the writing of this article, the artist only has 1,396 monthly listeners on Spotify, and the band seems lost to time. If you’re keen on purchasing a physical CD, it is listed on Amazon for a measly $3.34. Lead Hands disbanded shortly after their name change in 2012, and the members moved on for one reason or another, but this is truly a rare find in the echelons of post-hardcore, and one that should not be passed up.

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