The Used

The Used are a band that would be hard to classify as one style of music. The diversity in the sound is almost comparable to that of Led Zeppelin. Some songs are borderline thrash metal, and others are light acoustic songs; they've even done a cover of Queen's "Under Pressure".

The Used
The debut album of the Used, this album has very few songs that sound even remotely similar. The album starts with the "Maybe Memories", one of their more metal songs. "Taste of Ink" is the main single on the album, and is like a better version of a Seether song. "Buried Myself Alive" is another metal song, and is one of the best songs by the Used. "Box Full of Sharp Objects" is a great song, but it takes a while to get used to the second chorus. "On My Own" is a great acoustic song

Rating: 4/5-some songs need improvement

In Love And Death
Probably the first time I've seen a heart look creepy, this album is just as creepy sounding as the cover suggests. It starts with "I Caught Fire", (surprisingly a love song) which has a great high-pitched guitar riff. "Take It Away" is another metal song, and is one of the best, if not the best, songs on the album. "All That I've Got" is still popular enough out west to be on mainstream radio. It's a relatively decent song. "Cut Up Angels" and "Listening" don't make much sense but are really creepy. "Sound Effects and Overdramatics" is a song with even more screaming than "Box Full of Sharp Objects".

Rating: 3/5-some really good tracks on the album, but many tracks aren't very good.

Lies For the Liars
This album starts out with the strings orchestra playing lightly with the guitar until the booming chorus in the song "Bird and the Worm". "Pretty Handsome Awkward" is a great song with a great riff, despite the weird name and lyrics. "Earthquake" is another great song on the album, but there's not much to say about it. "Wake the Dead" is a great song with a great riff and an even greater chorus.

Rating:4/5-yet another great album, but a couple of songs need improvement

Shallow Believer
Mainly an album of b-sides and hidden tracks, there's only a few really good songs on this album. "Devil Beside You" and "Into My Web" are the best tracks on the album. Most of the rest of the tracks are good until the end, where there is some kind of outro that completely ruins the song. The song "Choke Me" is practically thrash metal and is all screaming. It is only slightly lighter metal than Slayer's "Angel of Death". Just after that is "Sun Comes Up", which is probably the happiest song i've ever heard by a post-90's band.

Rating:3/5-many songs need improvement

Foo Fighters: Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

The latest album by the Foo Fighters, it contains tracks just as great as other albums and overall is somewhat like what Nirvana would be if Kurt Cobain was still alive (only with better singing). The Foo Fighters are essentially what is left of Nirvana: David Grohl, the drummer of Nirvana, formed the Foo Fighters, and is their lead singer and guitarist.

The album starts with the main single of the album, "The Pretender". This song slowly builds up
from a quiet, slow, barely audible verse, then adds drums, the first electric guitar, and gets louder. Then, the second guitar adds on, then the bass. Then the song goes into the booming chorus; one of the best of any song by these guys. The second verse doesn't build like the first does, but after the second chorus, the song slows down and begins to build up until the third verse which is similar to the very beginning of the song.

Next is "Let it Die", a song which slowly builds over the course of the song; it is somewhat like "Stairway to Heaven" (only in the format of the song), only it doesn't last forever.

"Erase/Replace" is one of the few songs on the album that starts out electric. The chorus is a bit slow compared to the rest of the song, but overall, it is a good song.

"Long Road to Ruin"... another great song. It has a great transition to the chorus and a great instrumental.

"Come Alive" is yet another song that builds up from quiet, slow, and acoustic to loud, fast, and electric.

"Stranger Things Have Happened" is five-minute acoustic song. A bit repetitive, but overall a good song.

"Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)" is a song similar to "Erase/Replace", only the chorus speeds up. The abrupt change between verse and chorus is great.

"Summer's End" is a relatively slow song that has a catchy tune.

"Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners" is just 2:32 of acoustic noodling on two acoustic guitars.

"Statues" is a slow song with a piano playing lightly in the background. A bit repetitive.

"But, Honestly" slowly builds over the course of the song from very light, slow, quiet acoustic playing to loud and fast, and eventually fades out.

"Home" is a slow song, somewhat like "Statues", only slower.

Rating: 4/5
Great album, with many great tracks. I don't really listen to grunge that much, but this is still a great album. The great singing makes up for the parts with bad instrumentals.

Seether: Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces

The South African band Seether's latest album, "Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces" is possibly the best of their albums so far. Though their first two albums, "Disclaimer" and "Disclaimer 2" had some great tracks, such as "Broken", "Gasoline", and "Sympathetic", those albums had many tracks which weren't horrible, but they weren't great, either.

The album starts off with a great track, "Like Suicide". This starts with a light acoustic guitar slowly playing and then adds on the drums, and after the fourth line (I think), the bass comes in. Almost exactly 10 seconds later, the chorus comes booming in. After the second verse and second chorus, it slows down and keeps repeating a line, and builds up into the third and final chorus.

"Fake It", the first single on the album, is hard to describe except by saying it sounds like a cross between "Remedy" from their last album, and "69 Tea" from their "Disclaimer" albums.

The next track, "Breakdown", is almost the exact same format as "Like Suicide". It has a building acoustic verse that adds on instruments until the booming chorus. It sounds significantly different from "Like Suicide" until you start paying attention to the layout of the song. The only difference in format between this song and "Like Suicide" is the guitar solo between the second and last choruses.

"FMLYHM" has a slow beggining and builds into the chorus, which sounds similar to that of the first and third tracks on the album, and is where you learn the meaning of the name of this song.

"Fallen" is possibly the worst track on the album. The parts between choruses are great, but the chorus isn't that great. I'm not saying the song is horrible, but it isn't great either.

"Rise Above This" is the song's second single, and a great song. The chorus is not much different from the verses; in fact, they are really just a louder verse. This makes for a flawless transition between chorus and verse. It has a Nirvana-esque guitar solo that has less notes that the verse played normally.

"No Jesus Christ" is something you don't see much from modern bands: a good 7+minute song. It keeps changes tunes twice throughout the song, and in the end of the song, it goes back to the original tune of the song. The transitions between parts of the song are better than some Iron Maiden songs.

There's not much to be said about "6 Gun Quota", except that its chorus is only slightly better than that of the song "Fallen".

"Walk Away From The Sun" is another great track that starts acoustic and goes electric.

"Eyes of the Devil" is yet another song that starts quiet as most of the other tracks on the album, and gets louder and louder until the chorus. It is one of the best songs not just on the album of all of their albums.

"Don't Believe" and "Waste" are the last two tracks on the album. There's really not much to be said about them except that they have a format almost exactly like that of the other songs on the album.

Rating: 3/5
The album has some good songs, but lots of the songs sound the same. Almost all of the songs are great, but the same song format gets annoying after a while. Still worth buying

Foxboro Hottubs: Stop Drop And Roll!!!

This is the debut album of the band that so many people are claiming to be Green Day. It makes sense, seeing how the singer sounds alot like Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong, and the tracks all have retarded sounding names that you usually hear from Green Day (ex: 409 "In a Coffemaker", "Poprocks and Coke", "Emenius Sleepus", etc...). The album starts off with the song "Stop Drop and Roll", which sounds significantly different from most Green Day songs in that it sounds a bit cheery for Green Day, and it has a guitar solo.

After that is "Mother Mary", the album's most popular song, which sounds alot like Green Day, but, at the same time, sounds different and much better. The rest of the tracks on the album are relatively good, better than most of the early Green Day stuff.

Rating: 4/5
The album almost sounds like Green Day's debut album, only the songs sound good. Some tracks could use improvement, but I don't know which ones could be improved or how to improve them. Overall, it seems Foxboro Hottubs is too good to be a new band and sounds too similar to Green Day to not be them.

Bullet For My Valentine

Bullet For My Valentine, or BFMV, is a little-knownWelsh band that has released 2 full length albums and one 6-song album. They are one of the best band I've ever heard, having done a cover of Metallica's "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", and having done acoustic versions of their songs. They are as good as, if not better than, Avenged Sevenfold, and are probably one of the best bands of the decade.

Hand Of Blood-EP
Hand of Blood-EP is filled with great tracks. It contains BFMV's first single, "Hand of Blood", and has two tracks that would appear on their first full-length album. The 4 tracks not on "The Poison" each have their own unique sound. "Curses" starts slow and builds up, "No Control" and "Just Another Star" are the first two songs by BFMV that could be considered thrash metal.

Rating:5/5-Every song is great

The Poison
BFMV's first full length album, "The Poison" has about five singles on the album. The album is filled with great tracks, and has an acoustic version of the song "Tears Don't Fall" (one of the singles on the album), as well as a cover of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", a song off of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" album. The albums best songs are "10 Years Today", "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)", and "Tears Don't Fall".

Rating:4/5-A few songs could use improvement

Scream Aim Fire
BFMV's latest album starts off with the track "Scream Aim Fire", the first single of the album, is a war song that starts off with a drum solo. The next single, "Hearts Burst Into Fire", is the best post-2000 song I have ever heard. It starts off with a guitar solo and then makes its way into the great riff of the rest of the song. "Waking The Demon" is a "thrash" or "death" metal song that has a great chorus. Every other track on the album is great.

Rating:5/5-Every song worth listening to

Disturbed: Indestructible

Yay, finally an album by these guys that doesn't have the same main riff for every goddamn song! "Indestructible", the fourth studio by the Disturbed, is probably their best, or at least their second best. The album starts off first with gunshots in the distance similar to the beginning of Metallica's "One", and then adds on air raid sirens like in Black Sabbath's "War Pigs". But unlike these two songs, the first track on the album, "Indestructible", glorifies the soldier and war. The song abruptly starts with a riff heavier than Metallica's "Master of Puppets", and cuts off the air raid sirens. It has great transitions between parts of the song, and is a great start to a great album.

Next comes the album's main single:"Inside the Fire". A lighter song than "Indestructible", the guitar and bass sound so similar that it is hard to tell when the guitar is playing and when it isn't. It has evil laughter in the beginning, which signals the end of the intro and start of the song. The Disturbed have done something like this before, in their most popular song "Down with the Sickness", only in this, the sound the singer makes actually sounds somewhat human.

The next two songs,"Deceiver" and "The Night"are relatively good, and are worth listening to, but there really isn't anything unique to comment on in these songs other than the great drums that are in every song by the Disturbed.

"Perfect Insanity" starts with a drum solo and blasts into the first verse after a brief instrumental that sounds like a cross between "Indestructible" and "Inside the Fire". The entire song is great, but the transition to the chorus is a bit abrupt and could be improved on.

The next track, "Haunted" goes from a relatively light instrumental in the intro to a heavy riff, similar to that of Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast". It has a chorus similar to that of the previous track, but the transition between the chorus is almost perfect.

The rest of the album is filled with tracks that sound relatively similar. "Enough" has a fading ending, "The Curse" has a chorus that sounds almost exactly like the verses, "Torn" and "Criminal" have similar opening riffs, and "Divide" begins with an extremely fast riff and then goes back to the riff that these guys used for the every song in their past songs. The final track on the album, "Facade" is probably the best of the last six tracks on the album.

Rating:3/5
It is a good album, but the songs start to sound the same about halfway into the album. I would still buy it, but it might take a while to get used to the style of the Disturbed.

Papa Roach

You may have heard this California band's popular tracks on the radio (infest, scars, to be loved..., forever) but there's a lot more than that, especially if you concentrate on their lyrics. Papa roach has evolved as most bands do throughout their careers.

Infest:

This 2000 album marks the beginning of Papa Roach's national success. Before the release of the CD, they had only achieved regional success in the Los Angeles Bay area. The second track of the album, "Last Resort," landed the band their first nationally played single, but the rest of the album recieved little attention. The album mostly contains explosive rap-rock vocals with more traditionally sung choruses. The guitars are also non orthodox: A mixture of grunge and metal meets the listener's ears. Although at the first listen the album might not seem to have much meaning, the lyrics to songs like "broken home" reveal deeper meanings. Infest was certified triple platinum.

Lovehatetragedy

After the success of their first album, Lovehatetragedy was released in 2002. This album featured rap-style vocals similar to Infest. The album was certified gold.

Getting Away From Murder

Papa Roach released Getting Away With Murder in 2004. Fans saw two singles from the album hit the shelves that year: "Getting Away With Murder," and the more popular "Scars." Although some fans complained that Papa Roach were "sell-outs," the deeper meaning could be found again in the album, even on the hit track Scars: "...our scars remind us that the past is real..." This can be interpreted a number of ways, but if you think about it, you realize that this is no top 40. Getting Away with Murder was certified platinum.

The Paramour Sessions

The band’s latest album was released in September, 2006. Judged by the number of singles, this CD has been the most successful so far. Singles include “To Be Loved…,” “Forever,” “Time is running out,” and “Reckless.” The album has sold over 400,000 copies today.

 

Sick Puppies: Dressed up as Life

The first and only album by the Australian trio, "Dressed up as Life" is an excellent album. That's what you would expect from a band that takes almost 10 years to write 12 songs. Yes, they are "emo", but they really don't look like it and they are good enough to make you not care about that. They are best known for the song "All the Same", which was used for the music of the immensely popular You tube video "Free Hugs Campaign."

The album starts off with the song "My World", a 4 minute song which goes from quiet, monotone singing to a loud, booming chorus. Then we have "Pitiful", which starts off with a simple bass beat and adds on the guitar and drums shortly before going into another chorus that is just as great as, if not better than the chorus of "My World".The next track, "Cancer" has a great edgy bass and guitar riff. "Cancer" is very different from the first two tracks in that it is faster.

"What Are You Looking For" is one of the best songs on the album. It starts off acoustic in the first verse, goes into a chorus similar to that of "My World", and then goes into the next verse, which has a uniquely good guitar part. "Deliverance" has a great guitar part which sounds extremely familiar.

"All The Same" is the most popular song by Sick Puppies. Its starts off acoustic and builds up into electric guitar with heavy riffs. It has a mini guitar solo, and as it ends, it goes back to acoustic.

"Too Many Words" probably has the best and most complex guitar part for the verse for any song by these guys. The chorus starts really abruptly, but the transition to it is very good. The outro is the best of any of their songs.

"Howard's Tale" is all bass in the first verse, and has an abrupt start to the choruses. It isn't the best track on the album, but like every song ont he album, it is worth listening to. "Asshole Father" starts with an acoustic part almost identical to the beggining of "Too Many Words". It goes into a chorus similar to that of "Too Many Words", but despite the similarities, the song sounds signifigantly different from "Too Many Words".

"Issues" has effects on the guitar similar to that of the song "Cancer". This song sounds nothing like anything else on the album, and has a really good instrumental; the instrumental part of this song is almost as good as that of the song "Deliverance".

"Anywhere But Here" starts with an acoustic begginning and then goes straight into a heavy guitar riff, which at first does not sound too good but gets better. The chorus is signifigantly different from the rest of the song, but the transition to it is so good that the chorus sounds perfect with the song. It has a brief "slow down" (I don't know what to call it) in the middle of the song but quickly builds back up to its original speed.

"The Bottom", the last song on the track, has effects on the instruments similar to those on "Issues". Many people don't seem to like this track; it takes a while to get used to it. It has a good tune, but the transition in and out of the chorus could be improved on a bit. At the end of the song, it gradually slows down and eventually ends.

Rating:5/5 stars.
This is one of the best albums I have ever heard. I have heard people who hate all music made after the year 2000 say that this album is good. It is the greatest album I have heard from after the year 2000. BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

Shinedown: The Sound of Madness

The third studio album of the Jacksonville, Florida, quintet, "The Sound of Madness" is similar to the past two albums in that it goes from heavy, fast guitar riffs to slow, acoustic (or almost acoustic) songs.

The album starts off with the main single for the album, "Devour." The song starts with a drum roll and build up by adding on the first, then second guitar, and then the bass, then speeds into the fast, heavy riffs the verses and choruses. The song has such a heavy guitar riff that many people could mistake this band for a metal band.

The next 3 tracks on the album are slightly slower and lighter than "Devour." "The Sound of Madness," which the album was named after, is followed by "Second Chance," which starts off slowly with an acoustic guitar but speeds up after the first chorus. After that is "Cry For Help." This song starts with a fast riff, and then briefly slows down into the first verse. After that, the song speeds up to be almost, if not as fast as the first track on the album.

"The Crow and the Butterfly" starts off slow with an acoustic guitar, but then adds in an electric guitar for the choruses. The song also adds in a string orchestra in the background for the second verse. After the buildup into the second chorus, there's a mini-guitar solo, a repeat chorus, then all other instruments slowly fad away into an acoustic ending.

 

The next track, "If You Only Knew", starts off with an intro that makes you expect another song like "Devour." Instead, the song is a mainstream-rock-ish mix of acoustic and electric guitar.

 

"Sin With a Grin" starts with the fast, heavy guitar riffs and fast drums you were expecting from "If You Only Knew". Overall, it is a very good song, but the chorus could use some slight improvement.

 

"What a Shame" is very similar to "The Crow and the Butterfly" in that it starts off slow and acoustic and slowly builds up. After that comes "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide", a song that almost sounds like "Sin With a Grin", but has a better transition into the chorus. "Breaking Inside" is another song that starts off acoustic and slowly transitions to electric guitar for the chorus.

 

"Call Me", the last track on the album, is only piano with some strings instruments playing lightly in the background while the singer sings (duh, what else would he do?). Though, a bit long for a song like this, it is a great song and a fitting ending to this album

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

It's a great album; actually it's one of the best I've ever heard, but there is room for improvement on a few songs, and some songs sound very similar. It is one of the few albums I would actually buy if I had the option of getting it for free.

 

The First Cut

Is it pop? The iTunes Store says so. I don't. This mostly unknown band out of Bergen, Norway seems to fall more under the Indie umbrella. They can also be considered emo, as the name suggest. Rather than a reference to self injury, however, the band's name comes from the Sheryll Crow song "The First Cut is the Deepest."

The band has only one major album, "Silence Afterwards," (released in 2006) which is available on iTunes. There are no singles or EPs. Some sources report that the band is on a hiatus and may never play again. Time will tell.

This excerpt from the band's Myspace page (myspace.com/thefirstcut) explains a bit about the band name's history:

The summer of 2003 the vocalist of CRASH got a phonecall from the manager of a finnish pop band called The Crash. He told Arild that Warner Music Finland had taken notice that there was a norwegian band by the same name and that "something terrible could happen". After that day Arild recieved several phone calls from the same finnish number and all he could hear was breathing, the sound of broken bones and an evil laughter.

A day in august 2004 arild got a mandate from God, in the shape of Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens, to use the name of his broken heart-anthem "The first cut is the deepest": The band was deeply honoured, and have decided to continue under that name.

Overall rating: 4/5

Bottom line: Great music, but the fact that there might only be one cd out is annoying.