The Enemy UK
We'll Live and Die In These Towns
Available Now
4/5
It's not often that you manage to find a band that sounds like the Beatles and Iggy Pop at the same time, but The Enemy UK manages to pull it off, and they sound good doing it. Their first album, We'll Live and Die In These Towns, has no business being anyone's first album. It has a strong and polished sound most bands don't pick up until their second or third album - which is usually about when they start to get famous. Not so with The Enemy. This album hit No. 1 on the U.K. music charts the week it was released. The first half of the album has a fast-moving beat that makes the listener want to jump up and dance. The second half of the album has a melancholy tone that makes the listener want to fall down and cry. Track two, "Away from Here," has an indie-punk heritage that owes a lot to the Stooges. Had this song been around when the soundtrack to "Trainspotting" was compiled, it would have made the album. The Enemy UK already sounds great, but give them 10 years, and they'll be the best band in Britain.
If you like this music, you might enjoy:
The Killers - Sam's Town
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
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The Automatic - Not Accepted Anywhere
Scars on Broadway
Scars on Broadway
Available Now
4/5
Daron Malakian needs to sit down and take a deep breath - and maybe a valium. There is an undercurrent of insanity running through this album that isn't as obvious in his System of a Down work. If Heath Ledger's character as the Joker were a real person, you'd find this album on his shelf. This isn't to say there's anything wrong with Scars on Broadway. There isn't. In fact, it sounds a little better than System of a Down, if for no other reason than it doesn't possess the same frenetic energy that System of a Down practically oozes out of its pores. It makes it a little easier to listen to. It's an amusing album as much as it's a disturbing one. For instance, "Stoner-Hate" includes the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in the lyrics. Combining this with strong guitar work and a bit of electronic musical influence, the listener is left with an album that will stand the test of time. This one will still be on a lot of people's shelves 20 years from now.
If you like this music, you might enjoy:
Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead
System of a Down - Toxicity
Hawthorne Heights
Fragile Future
Available Now
0/5
This album starts out sounding like a fairly run-of-the-mill rock album - until the vocals start. Then it sounds like some emo kid wrote the lyrics while crying and cutting his arms. In fact, it sounds a lot like Dashboard Confessional - which is about as damning a comparison that exists in the musical world. The instrumentation isn't actually terrible, but it's boring. The drums are a little weak, easily overpowered by the guitar and the bass line. The guitar is lame - essentially the same overdriven crap that has plagued pop-rock for the last 10 years. The bass line sounds all right. It's not great, but it's not irritatingly bad - which brings us back to the vocals. They're terrible. The lead singer needs to stop singing until he hits puberty. His voice has a pitch that can irritate dogs from 20 miles away. Most 7-year-old girls have deeper voices than this guy does. All of that could be overlooked if Hawthorne Heights were at least doing something original. They aren't, and it shows. Someone in the music industry needs to stop them before they put out another album.
If you like this music, you might enjoy:
Story of the Year - The Black Swan
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
A Day in the Life - Nine Reasons to Say Goodbye
