"You are about to see and hear one of the most significant messages given to us from God," says an old science class film narrator introducing The Used's second album, "In Love and Death."
Those words prove to be weakly supported as the listener wears through the album's 12 tracks. It's an album of effectual contradictions.
The first song, "Take it Away," begins brightly with an upbeat time signature and a series of joyous yelps from lead singer Bert McCracken. Sounds fun, right? However, the ugliest-musician-in-recent-memory's first words are quite contradictory, "I'm lying to myself and this dagger's my excuse." Fun stuff.
At some point in the last 10 years, lyrical discussion of suicidal thoughts has become common, even fashionable. Perhaps Kurt Cobain's supposed self-termination got the ball rolling, but said ball has made it past the bottom of the hill and is currently wrecking havoc on a town named "Artistic Integrity."
"In Love and Death" is perhaps the most astute title ever, as those topics make up the entirety of the record's content.
References to surface wounds, blades and the healing process, all presumably dealing with self-mutilation, appear in five titles on the bands two releases. "In Love and Death" shows numerical growth in that department, with three trumping the debut's two. It sports the titles, "Let it Bleed," "Cut Up Angels" and "Light with a Sharpened Edge."
McCracken's caterwauling gets old around the sixth track, oddly named "Listening." Odd because this is when that verb ceases to occur.
If one can sustain interest for a few more songs, there is a treat in store on "Sound Effects and Overdramatics." A vocal guest appearance from Sean Ingram of Coalesce energizes the album's latter half. Perhaps it was the presence of one of hardcore's most guttural of screams, but The Used has written their most potent song to date.
But the song is rather like getting a day of sun after a six of rain on a week's vacation. It just doesn't make up for the fact that it's the only track on "In Love and Death" that shows any development since the group's self-titled debut.
McCracken's vocal melody on "Hard to Say" is lifted straight from "Buried Myself Alive" and the mega-production gives the album the exact same sound as the first.
The Used's style isn't bad, but their application is somewhat lacking.
