Here's the next batch.
Blink-182 - Enema of the State
There's not really much to say about Enema of the State that hasn't been said. It's pretty standard pop/punk with pretty standard and unimpressive musicianship and pretty standard attempts at humor. Blink-182 tries to write funny lyrics and put a bunch of jokes in their music videos, and it makes all the people who watch MTV laugh, but we all know it makes for sub-par music.
It's not really bad, the band is pretty competent at writing catchy, accessible tunes. It's just pretty unremarkable. You listen to the album (or, if you're an average fan of this kind of music, two or three songs), enjoy them a little while they're playing, and then you forget about it and move on. Blink-182 doesn't seek to blow you away or build up to any significant payoffs, they just sing about some shallow topic while playing some chords for a few minutes, and then move on to the next topic.
Some of the songs are interesting enough to warrant attention. "Adam's Song", which you've probably heard, is a genuinely affecting somber melody about a suicide, and is unfortunately followed up by "All the Small Things", one of the most irritatingly popular songs of all time. It's not that catchy and actually one of the least funny tracks. "Anthem, Part 1" is, like its title implies, an anthem, one for teenagers who don't like their parents very much. It's not that special on its own, but what's cool is that the next album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, starts out with the second part, which creates an interesting link between the two records.
Enema is fairly decent punk, but it isn't really worth spending your money on at this point. Its cultural significance has passed, and it contributes very little to music as a whole.
Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is a little better than the band's previous effort, Enema of the State, but not by much. The music is roughly the same caliber, although they take a few more chances, and the lyrics are a bit more interesting, but not significantly so. The first track, "Anthem, Part 2" is a continuation of the final track from the last record, and has a pretty cool guitar part.
The singles are standard Blink 182. "Rock Show", "First Date", they're catchy, they're accessible, they're forgettable. "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" isn't even a song, it's just swearing and bad jokes. Most of the album is regular pop-punk, although there are a few songs that are a cut above. "Stay Together for the Kids" is a strong ballad about broken homes, and really doesn't sound like this band. It's good. "Story of a Lonely Guy" and some songs near the end are also pretty solid steps away from the band's pattern. It's kind of refreshing, but not enough to elevate the album above an average score.
Blink-182 - Blink-182
This was a pleasant surprise. The first single off this record, "Feeling This", sounds like normal Blink-182 except with less singing. But luckily, the band broke out of their creative rut and delivered a solid, enjoyable album that deviates from their common pattern throughout.
None of the songs are really amazing or stand out that much, but almost all of them have something unique to like. The second single, "I Miss You", is an interesting acoustic song with strange lyrics. "Violence" is catchy and ends with a reading of a love letter from the bassist's grandfather to his wife. "Asthenia" contains a pretty original opening and guitar part. "Easy Target" and "All of This" share a tune, and the latter features Robert Smith of The Cure. "I'm Lost Without You" is over six minutes long, which sounds like it would be an eternity for a Blink-182 song, but it actually goes by pretty quick.
Almost all of the songs that weren't mentioned also have something about them that makes them worth listening to. This may not be your kind of music, but unlike their other albums, it still may be worth a listen or two.
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Before getting a hold of this, I had heard a bit off of Brand New's previous album, Your Favorite Weapon, and wasn't very impressed. It was fairly good punk, but it didn't really grab me. Deja Entendu, on the other hand, gripped me by the shirt collar and slammed me into the ground. It's simply the most listenable album I've ever heard. I could play the whole thing through without getting bored probably every day if I wanted to. The music is catchy. The lyrics are clever and easily sung along with. Top to bottom, it's just plain good.
Deja is a different kind of punk. Brand New were clearly trying to distance themselves from the pack, and the plan worked. A few of the songs are mainly acoustic and a couple don't introduce the chorus until a couple minutes in. It's not just a bunch of simple, repeated chords and typical lyrics, the music is genuinely interesting. "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" is about a kid who is rushed into sex and has a great bass line. The two following tracks, besides having long sentences as titles, have a few other similarities. They combine well written verses with catchy refrains, and are more fun to listen to than the average filler between singles. "The Quite Things That No One Ever knows" is the first Brand New song I ever really liked, and is the main reason I pursued this album. It's still a strong punk song, but really doesn't fit in that much with the rest of the album.
The next couple songs are more solid emo, but the next standout track is "Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis", which is a slow buildup with slightly disturbing lyrics which culminates into a great, angry release at the end. "Guernica" is another more mainstream song with a clever chorus, and is followed by "Good to Know That If I Ever Need Attention All I Have To Do Is Die", which is as satisfyingly long as its title implies and contains a great guitar solo, and "Play Crack the Sky", a big change of pace, an acoustic, quiet tune about a ship lost at sea. If you can give a band with the "emo" label a chance, listen to this, you probably won't be disappointed.
Chevelle - Point #1
Point #1 is Chevelle's first album, and undoubtedly more raw and a little different than later releases, obviously because they got onto a bigger label. I doubt Wonder What's Next will ever be supplanted as my favorite release by Chevelle, but as it stands, this debut is better than the more mainstream and less passionate This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). This is actually the album of theirs I obtained the most recently, and its impact is probably negatively affected by the strength of the follow-up. I still appreciate what they did here though, as it shares more strengths with Wonder What's Next than This Type of Thinking does.
Chevelle is supposedly a Christian band, but that doesn't really come through in the lyrics at all. Their faith might provide them with a little more emotion in the music, which is good, but it's not really that big of an aspect. The first track is an interesting two minute instrumental intro that leads into the awesome title track, which combines the band's skill at writing very listenable hard rock with the great, soothing vocals the singer provides. The next few songs are above average, adequate rock, but the next great song is the six and a half minute "Dos." It starts off quite, but it builds up over time into an explosive, passionate climax, and has more emotion in it than most songs you hear these days. "Long" is another song that starts off slow before exploding. The band does that a lot. "Peer" is a strong closing track, again, starting off quiet and ending with a burst of high energy power.
This is a good rock album, its only problem is that too few of the songs stand out. The few I mentioned are really good, and the rest are solid too, you just have some trouble remembering them all as their own thing, preventing this from being great.
Chevelle - Wonder What's Next
Let me start by saying I can't really explain why I love Wonder What's Next so much. Looking at it completely objectively and analytically, it's not that different from other music by similar artists in the genre. It follows an obvious pattern of standard hard rock for a few minutes, culminating in a cacophonous climax with screaming vocals. It's kind of hard for me to justify such a high rating, but I can't ignore a simple fact - I love this collection of songs almost as much as any other.
As a band, Chevelle writes more than competent rock music. Most songs contain some riff or melody that makes every song memorable. But that's not why I like them. I like them because of the vocals. The singer, despite being able to destroy his vocal chords pretty well, doesn't use that skill too much like some other bands fall into. The guy can sing as well, and his soft, pleasant voice serves as a great counterpoint to the hard guitar stuff. What I like best about their music is the choruses they write with extended, melodic vocal parts that really show off that counterpoint. It just hits me in a way that's affecting unlike most other music.
I love all of the songs, but some of them are a cut above. The first two tracks, "Family System" and "Comfortable Liar" are very strong and put you in the mood for the rest before being followed by the album's three good singles. "Don't Fake This" has probably my favorite vocals of the whole record, and "An Evening with El Diablo" contains both a great chorus and an extended rock out section. Like I said, it's not really objectively that far above other stuff in the genre, but it's exactly the kind of music that I like.
Chevelle - This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
At first or second glance, This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) isn't that far off from Wonder What's Next. They're both albums by Chevelle, of course. They both contain solid nu-metal music and follow similar patterns. So why is that I loved Wonder What's Next while I think This Type of Thinking is merely pretty decent? They're basically the same band, the only real difference is they do a lot less of what I like most about Chevelle, the melodic, flowing choruses. It's no coincidence that my favorite songs on this album are the ones that stay the closest to what Chevelle did on their previous effort, while the songs with more standard vocals languish in mediocrity.
The first few songs are decent, and include the two singles. They're competent hard rock, but nothing too special. The first track I really like is "Still Running", with an enjoyable guitar during the verse and a soaring refrain. "Panic Prone" is another good one, a lot calmer than the other songs, and better for it. The next really good song is "To Return", which again, features the vocals that were so prevalent in the last album but all too rare in this. None of the other songs are bad, per se, they're all more than adequate for the genre, they just don't quite do what Chevelle does best.
This is the first album Chevelle has made since getting popular, and you have to wonder if that's reflected in the quality. This record has gone gold, and I'm glad that a band that I like has had some success, but I hope they've learned some things and can get back to what they do best on the next one. This is a solid effort, but not at the level of the genre-topping Wonder What's Next.
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
Cursive's The Ugly Organ is the definition of a grower. The first time I heard it, I thought it was pretty decent, but not the kind of thing I'd usually listen to. I'm not sure why, but over time I started liking the songs more and more, and now the album is one of my favorites.
After the strange intro, the first song is "Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand", a quickly paced rock song which is somewhat atypical for this band. What it does have in common with the other songs is its brief length, despite the final track being over 10 minutes long, the entire album is barely over 40. Although I guess brevity really is the soul of wit, as the short length allows Cursive to cram all of their ideas into a really small space, making each song a pleasure to listen to all the way through. After a few more good songs and a one minute interlude, there's "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale." It's a dark retelling of the Pinocchio story, and has one of the album's better melodies. It is followed by a couple harder songs, the decadent and enjoyable "A Gentleman Caller" and more electronic "Harold Weathervein". The interesting "Sierra", which wraps up the storyline that plays out over the course of this concept album, is followed by the great, extremely long "Staying Alive". The noises at the end go on a little too long, but the song itself is very affecting and still gives me chills.
From the singer's distinctly different voice to the unusual instrumentation, The Ugly Organ is a unique and thoroughly good album that probably anyone can enjoy if they give it a listen or two.
Dead Poetic - New Medicines
I had some high hopes for this record, I really liked the single and the snippets of other songs I heard, and thought this could be, maybe not genius, but a really well done, fun punk album. What I got was something that's a little less than the sum of its parts. It's not bad, it just doesn't do anything to really make you like it. It's competent musically and decent for the genre, it's just lacking that ingredient of greatness.
"Taste the Red Hands" is a little different style from the rest of the songs and a decent opening. That's a word that comes to mind a lot when listening to New Medicines, "decent". The title track is also the single and it's some enjoyable hardcore, but it's lost some of its luster over time. "Glass In the Trees" is the most affecting song on the album, it's not amazing musically but the lyrics are a little touching.
The rest of the songs are more average rock songs. Pretty much every track has at least one enjoyable part, but sometimes you have to wonder if Dead Poetic is really in it for the music when what they do just isn't that original or fun to listen to. It's serviceable, but it's not very good.
