Once upon a time (2001, actually) the Used put out their self-titled debut album.

Now, in 2004, the Used have released their sophomore record, titled “In Love and Death.”

Somewhere in between the two they had three radio hits (“Box Full of Sharp Objects”, “The Taste of Ink” and “Blue and Yellow”), making “screamo” cool. They played both Warped and Ozzfest (and a slew of other tours), had their lead singer hospitalized for acute pancreatis, released a DVD (“Maybe Memories”, 2003), and other things I’m sure we’d much rather not know about.

Which brings us back to “In Love and Death”. It’s polished, it’s catchy, and dare I say commercial, but don’t hold it against them: this album is awesome.

Things start off with the lead single “Take It Away” which sounds pretty much how you’d expect a Used single to sound like. Given the fact that the band has mostly released good singles so far, that’s not a bad thing. There is a big shout-along to the last chorus that sounds kind of out of place, but overall the song is enjoyable.

“I Caught Fire” is catchy but far too sugary. It really isn’t a bad song—it’s just that it sounds like a lot of other not-bad emo songs by bands who want to be the Used. Remember how I mentioned that there was a commercial side to the album? Well this, along with ready made single “Yesterday’s Feelings”, pretty much captures it.

Another very emo moment is track four, “All That I’ve Got”. But we can forgive it for being overly emo, because it’s about singer Bert McCracken's dog, the late David Bowie. Plus, it’s a nice song. It’s devoid of the usual cliché lines (the chorus goes “I'll be just fine/Pretending I'm not/I'm far from lonely/And it's all that I've got.”)

Musically, the Used have expanded their horizons a bit, too. “Light with a Sharpened Edge” features some pretty keyboards (played by McCracken), and the excellently bouncy “Lunacy Fringe” has a stand-up bass, and drummer Branden Steineckert uses brushes instead of regular sticks. There are also more variations on melody than the first album—as McCracken puts it, he’s “made friends” with his voice.

The best points of the album are some of its heaviest moments. “Sound Effects and Over dramatics” is an intense head rush from start to finish. McCracken slurs the verses a little bit, almost as if he doesn’t exactly want them to be heard (they also aren’t written in the booklet) and the chorus is full of gut-wrenching screams. The lead singer of Coalesce joins in on the final chorus here, a bit uselessly in my opinion, but if you’re a fan of deep growly, metalcore vocals, it’ll probably make you happy.

Things end on a climatic note with “I’m a Fake”. The song starts out with a spoken word poem that melts into loud guitars and fast drums and vocals that trade off between screaming and singing. Typical Used song on paper, but it’s really unlike anything they’ve ever recorded.

And that’s kind of how “In Love and Death” is. If you like the Used, and you liked the first album, there is no doubt in my mind that you’ll like this as well. It is by the Used. It sounds like the Used. Yet as far as individual songs go, there really isn’t anything that sounds like it’s from the first album.

Best Songs:
“All That I’ve Got” (track 4), “Sound Effects and Over Dramatics” (track nine), “Lunacy Fringe” (track 11), “I’m A Fake” (track 12).



Label: Reprise Records
Release: September 28th, 2004

Track Listing:

01. Take It Away
02. I Caught Fire
03. Let It Bleed
04. All That I’ve Got
05. Cut Up Angels
06. Listening
07. Yesterday’s Feelings
08. Light With A Sharpened Edge
09. Sound Effects and Over Dramatics
10. Hard To Say
11. Lunacy Fringe
12. I’m A Fake

Rating:



Review by: Lyndie