The Used

Shallow Believer

Written by: PP on 28/07/2008 10:09:09

The Used. Now that\'s a band that divides fans and critics alike, with about half of the people dismissing their latest album as My Chemical Romance aping while enclosing themselves on a listening session of the self-titled record, and the other half praising it easily as the band\'s best album to date. As you might recall from my review last year (kudos if you can), I belonged to the latter camp, praising the album\'s professional production and artistic completeness to the skies. But there was one thing I discounted whilst writing the review, which was lasting value. Whereas songs like \"Maybe Memories\" and even \"I Caught Fire\" have stuck to my mind for years now, a few weeks after reviewing the record I struggled to remember a single song title or a melody from the album (which is why its their only record not reached a gold certification yet). Which essentially means that I\'ve re-positioned my opinion to the camp of the former, those who value their past material on a much higher level. That being said, \"Lies For The Liars\" is still very good when its songs occasionally wander through my Winamp randomizer, they just aren\'t very memorable in the long run. I\'m sure Bert & co at least on some level feel the same way, because why else would they have released a follow-up record \"Shallow Believer\" (it can\'t be called an EP with 10 songs) full of B-sides and unreleased songs almost a year later, most of which reference their older material much more than the stuff on the latest record.

For you only have to tune on \"Slit Your Own Throat\", the second song on the disc, to find Bert screaming his lungs out in the best \"Maybe Memories\" manner. \"My Pesticide\" goes even further and includes the whiny clean vocal styles the band was known for, complete with the harsher guitar sound, ridiculously infectious chorus, and Bert\'s amazing ability to switch between singing and screaming within the same breath. Not just that, but the song is also better than almost any on \"Lies..\", aside from perhaps \"The Ripper\" and the other good track whose name I can\'t recall just now. It even has a stupendously large breakdown (on The Used scale) leading up to the chorus. Together with the all-out screamer \"Choke Me\", this track epitomizes the emo/screamo genre from four years ago to me; the fantastic quality showcases exactly why desperation-filled emo/screamo begun conquering the minds and hearts of fans and the music press alike. And as you can notice not just from \"Shallow Believer\" but also The Used\'s other records, almost every single one of their great songs has been one with relatively fast pace, lots of screaming and aggressive breakdowns, which raises the question why they don\'t just focus on what they do the best, especially when most of their fans seem to share this sentiment?

Although \"Shallow Believer\" has a couple of rather boring songs dragging the overall rating down, one still is left wondering why on earth many of these tracks were left out as b-sides. My immediate guess would be major label pressure toward radio friendly, single-oriented song writing, which serves as a great example of the big four not having the faintest of clues what makes The Used fans (or music fans in general) tick. We\'ll never find out for sure, but \"Shallow Believer\" should be checked out by all those longing for Bert to return to the screaming and the whiny clean vocals, back when the band was at its very biggest.

6

Download: My Pesticide, Choke Me, Slit Your Own Throat
For the fans of: old The Used, Greeley Estates, Finch
Listen: Myspace

Release date 19.02.2008
Reprise

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