Ethereal Metal Webzine

Review by Joshua Becker | April 28, 2020 | Band Facebook

Stitched Up Heart is a rock band originating from Los Angeles, California, and founded by Alecia “Mixi” Demner. Their latest album “Darkness” was released on Friday, March 13th, 2020.
 
Upon listening to the album, it seems be a nice mix of rock, and some industrial metal elements, with the electronic sounds in the background.
 
Even though the band is labeled “rock”, it seems like they may have experimented with some industrial metal, given the heavy presence of electronic sounds throughout the tracks.
 
Another thing I am noticing about the album, is it kind of reminds me a bit of Paramore, and has a bit of a punk rock element to it as well.
 
Lyrically, a lot of the lyrics from the album are very dark, and suggest a struggle, whether internal or external.
 
I get the feeling “Mixi” may have went through some very dark times during the song-writer process that inspired the somber lyrics.
 
The first three tracks of the album, I get the sense of an inner struggle “Mixi” is doing what she can to face.
 
When we get to “Warrior”, it sounds like she has finally started to piece things together, and even build up the strength to know her worth and fight the good fight.
 
“I’m a warrior, and I know what I’m fighting for”. This line reiterates what I mentioned earlier: she has found her strength and knows how to use it.
 
In “Dead Roses” there is a line of the song “you can’t break a heart that’s already broken”.
 
This tells the listener “Mixi” has been through some shit, and it’s almost as if she’s saying “you can’t hurt me anymore, I have been down more than you can imagine, and what you are doing, or trying to do won’t make any difference to me.”
 
The next track “Crooked Halo” is very harrowing, with lyrics like

“I saw you making eyes, you don’t want none of this
I’m a one way ticket to a sinking ship
You can march to the beat of my awful symphony”
 
Why does it seem like “Mixi” is suggesting that she is a disaster and you should avoid her or you’ll regret it the rest of your days?  There seems to be a lot of deep pain being reflected in this track, and it is extremely disheartening.
 
Finishing off the album, we get to “My Demon”. This would have to be the darkest most metal-sounding track on the album. One of the lines in the song really speaks to the vibe of the whole album.
 
“I become one with my demon
Let the beast outside of my mind
I become one with my demon
My dark side keeps me alive”
 
Suggesting to me that through her journey (the album), “Mixi” has fought with herself, and fought with others, and she has become one with her demon (possibly herself and her experiences).
 
In terms of an overall, this was a very interesting listen, and it definitely stands out from a lot of other rock/metal albums I have listened to before.
 
I want to give this album a 5/5.
 
The composition and lyrics are very dark, and very telling of pain, of emotion, of anguish, so many multi-faceted emotions throughout.
 
The production sounds great, the mixing and mastering sound very professional, and you don’t have any tracks where the singing gets washed out by the instruments, or vice-versa.
 
I am very impressed; great work!