AFI - DecemberUnderground (Mp3 Download)

Review by Corey Apar @ allmusic.com

AFI is a band lucky to own fiercely loyal fans who embrace -- and ultimately expect -- the gradual transformation the band has undergone with each album since 1999's Black Sails in the Sunset. Where many bands get called out for signing to a major label or even just maturing their sound over time, AFI fans have chiefly stayed devoted to their ever-evolving goth-punk heroes. With that in mind, Decemberunderground comes as AFI's follow-up to their ambitious major-label smash Sing the Sorrow. Due to the clever production tricks employed on that album, fans might expect even more intricate arrangements, sound effects, and sonic landscapes to emerge from the wintry packaging of Decemberunderground. To an extent this is true, but it's more that the cloudy gloom permeating their career thus far has lifted, allowing a relatively tighter and lighter overall album to emerge. Take the band's traditional prelude for instance: this time it's infused with stirring strings and an uplifting dance-pop beat that is a far cry from the dark and eerie call-to-arms chants of previous albums. And though "Kill Caustic" (and later "Affliction") brings AFI's earlier hardcore punch, if you thought "Girl's Not Grey" was poppy, check out this record's lead single, "Miss Murder." Despite a slightly ominous undertone, the glam-tinged song is damn near playful and sunny amid bouncy rhythms, vaguely industrial beats, background "hey!"s (courtesy of AFI's fan brotherhood, the Despair Faction), and a bassline that could have been swiped from Green Day. The band further dips its hand into new wave exploits ("37mm"), truly stirring choruses ("Summer Shudder"), stark electro vibrations ("Love Like Winter"), and the customary ballad ("Endlessly, She Said"). AFI even comes as close as they probably ever will to sounding like U2 in "The Missing Frame." Somehow, the guys have managed to combine hardcore instincts with dark emo-coated lyrics, synth shimmies, gothic aesthetics, and electronic beats into a sound that still remains wholly AFI. So maybe that's why fans have stuck by the band over all these years. Even as the guys stretch and flex their songwriting muscles, they never fail to remember where they came from, instead using their past work as the foundation to their essential growth. Decemberunderground may have more fully realized doses of pop and electronic music present, but the core of AFI's sound never strays too far from what listeners have grown to love about them in the first place.

Track Lists
01. Prelude 12/21
02. Kill Caustic
03. Miss Murder
04. Summer Shudder
05. The Interview
06. Love Like Winter
07. Affliction
08. The Missing Frame
09. Kiss And Control
10. The Killing Lights
11. 37mm
12. Endlessly She Said

Angels And Airwaves - We Don't Need To Whisper (Mp3 Download)

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine @ allmusic.com

How do you know that former blink-182 leader Tom DeLonge intends for his post-blink project Angels and Airwaves to be taken seriously? Because throughout their debut album, We Don't Need to Whisper, he relies on sounds and textures borrowed from 1988, the era when college rock was filled with atmospheric sonics and earnest politics. Specifically, he layers delayed guitars ripped from U2 over soundscapes equally inspired by the Cure, New Order, Peter Gabriel, and The Unforgettable Fire, all in an attempt to fashion a modern-day protest record. Lord knows it's an admirable break from his juvenile past, but good intentions don't necessarily make for good music, as We Don't Need to Whisper makes abundantly clear. DeLonge's main problem is that by relying on '80s college rock as his template, he's fallen into a lot of traps that have made albums of that era sound hopelessly dated: overlong intros, lasting upward of 90 seconds; formless songs that never seem to peak, only drift; cold keyboards that work a factory preset too heavily; an over-reliance on delay pedals, not just on the guitars (which never once sound like anybody other than the Edge), but on the keyboards, which has the unfortunate side effect of making the somber "Distraction" sound like an homage to Paul McCartney's gleefully moronic "Wonderful Christmas Time." That's not the only unintentional chuckle here -- DeLonge's thin, nasal voice cuts against the moody murk of his band, as if he were a little kid recording over his big brother's music. It also doesn't help that his screeds about war, society, and life are overly written, with words piling on top of each other in free-form song structures that tend to collapse under the weight of his ambition. Since DeLonge was starting to edge toward an interesting fusion of dark post-punk, tuneful pop-punk, and mature concerns on the last blink-182 album, such an over-reach is a disappointment, but it is understandable; it's a classic case of post-breakup indulgence. It may not make for a successful record, but it does make for an interesting one, particularly in how DeLonge's desire to be taken seriously has led him to use the serious music of his adolescence as a signifier that he's serious now, but We Don't Need to Whisper is too doggedly dour and amorphous to be more than a curiosity.

Track Lists
01. Valkyrie Missile
02. Distraction
03. It Hurts
04. Do It For Me Now
05. The Adventure
06. The War
07. A Little's Enough
08. The Gift
09. Good Day
10. Start The Machine

Nick Lachey - What's Left Of Me (Mp3 Download)

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine @ allmusic.com

Gossip hounds hoping that Nick Lachey's first post-divorce album would be laden with songs about his doomed marriage to Jessica Simpson will be pleased -- scratch that, delighted -- with What's Left of Me. If the album title doesn't clue you in to what it's all about, a glance at the song titles tip off its content: "I Can't Hate You Anymore," "On Your Own," "Outside Looking In," "Everywhere But Here," "Ghosts," "You're Not Alone," "Resolution" -- it's a virtual greatest-hits of brokenhearted laments, all sequenced as if it were a concept album about a man coming to terms with a painful divorce. To top it off, the centerfold photo finds Lachey sprawled out on a mattress in a grungy trailer, a stack of worn books, a TV with rabbit ears, and an empty beer bottle within reach, all bearing the unmistakable subtext that this is what the separation from Jessica has left him with (he also offers the following thanks: "most importantly, Miller Brewing...thank you!" -- but don't get ahead of yourself and think that this is a nod of gratitude to the beverages that got him through this difficult time; it's part of an extended thank you to "all of my friends who help to satisfy my sports addiction," which takes up as much space as his business, family, and fans thanks). So, this second album from the former 98° star provides plenty of voyeuristic satisfaction, as each song -- whether it's written by Lachey or not (and chances are, it is, since he has writing credits on eight of the 12 songs) -- plays into the theme, which makes it kind of like the boy band Blood on the Tracks. And while it's hard not to have sympathy for a guy whose sexpot ex allegedly cuckolded him through her affairs with Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera (it's possible to imagine a more humiliating list of lovers for Lachey, but even if you added anyone from Wilmer Valderhama to Artie Lange to that list, it wouldn't seem as bullying, as violent as that pair; it's practically a Jackass stunt), it's sure hard not to wish What's Left of Me was a whole lot better.

The problem with this record, as with the Backstreet Boys comeback of 2005, is that the boy band sound, particularly the singing style, does not lend itself to maturity. Give Lachey credit for not patterning his record after Jon Secada's early work, which BSB inexplicably did. He tries hard to sound modern, incorporating elements of anything from Ashlee-styled modern pop (ironic, isn't it?) to Coldplay, whose spacey surfaces are heard throughout (most notably on "Beautiful," whose echoing piano riff can't help but recall "Clocks"). This gives What's Left of Me a relatively fresh feel, at least superficially, but the songs slavishly follow the boy band formula for the turn of the century -- which is a setback in itself, but their lack of memorable melody hurts it even more. Then there's the problem of Lachey's breathy, simpering vocals, which may work fairly well when surrounded by other breathy, simpering singers, but when they're pushed out front to stand on their own, they have no presence -- they fade away into the production. And when that's married to melodies without melody, the whole album becomes one long, glossy song. But that doesn't mean What's Left of Me isn't interesting -- Lachey's valiant twin struggles to modernize his sound and get past his impending divorce certainly make this album interesting. It's not good, but it is interesting, and it is memorably odd, and even if it suggests that Lachey may have a rough time growing old with his signature sound, it still is hard not to finish the album and have a twinge of sympathy for the guy. Plus, he'll likely have the last laugh: he and Jessica had no prenup, so half of that marriage is his, so even if What's Left of Me fails to kick-start his career, he's probably not gonna wind up struggling to get by in that trailer.

Track Lists
01. What's Left Of Me
02. I Can't Hate You Anymore
03. On Your Own
04. Outside Looking In
05. Shades Of Blue
06. Beautiful
07. Everywhere But Here
08. I Do It For You
09. Run To me
10. Ghosts
11. You're Not Alone
12. Resolution

A-Ha - Hunting High And Low (Mp3 Download)

Review by Tim DiGravina @ allmusic.com

Anyone who dismissed a-ha as a one-hit wonder must have missed out on the band's fine debut, Hunting High and Low. Though the band spawned many further hits across the rest of the world, "Take on Me" exploded in the States and the group never cracked the top of the charts again. It's a shame, because the album contains a handful of songs that nearly match the manic energy and emotional crack of its big hit. Further, it's a cohesive album with smart pace changeups, and it rarely fails to delight or satisfy a listener's need for a synth pop fix. The opening kick is a huge one: "Take on Me" is a new wave classic laced with rushing keyboards, made emotionally resonant thanks to Morten Harket's touching vocal delicacy. It didn't hurt in the era of MTV that the song's video was a hyperkinetic blend of mind-warping animation and filmed footage with a romantic thriller's heart. Harket's hunky physique and cheekbones also didn't hurt the video's chances at heavy rotation. Getting past that video, "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." is just as thrilling. Starting as a sad ballad, it explodes into something much more, as chugging guitars and operatic synths keep pace with Harket's evocative vocal stylings. If ever a 1980s song qualified as Wall of Sound, "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." would be it. The remainder of the album sees a-ha switching deftly back and forth between dramatic overtures and classic new wave keyboard motifs. "Train of Thought" and "Love Is Reason" are reminiscent of early Depeche Mode or Camouflage, but Harket's rich voice and flair make them purely a-ha. The band explores decidedly European terrain in the theatrical "Hunting High and Low" and dances a pop waltz with the sweet "Living a Boy's Adventure Tale," coming across like a marriage between the Blue Nile and Alphaville. Delightful song snippets "The Blue Sky" and "And You Tell Me" act as frosting on the cake or as glue between the theater and the dancefloor. One can't escape the feeling that Hunting High and Low is a product of the 1980s, but with highs like "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.," and no lows in sight, a-ha's debut is a treat worth relishing.

Track Lists
01. Take On Me
02. Train Of Thought
03. Hunting High And Low
04. The Blue Sky
05. Living A Boy's Adventure Tale
06. The Sun Always Shines On TV
07. And You Tell Me
08. Love Is The Reason
09. I Dream Myself Alive
10. Here I Stand And Face The Rain

Papa Roach - The Paramour Sessions (Mp3 Download)

Review by Matt Collar @ allmusic.com

Having long ago dumped the tired rap-rock format of their early work, Papa Roach continues attempting to reinvent the hard rock wheel on 2006's The Paramour Sessions. Unfortunately, while the band seems to be aiming for Mötley Crüe's Theatre of Pain, the results sound something more akin to a nu-metal version of Loverboy's Keep It Up. These are boisterous, brash, and in-yo-face tracks that really want to convince you they have the goods. And sure, the band does evince a kind of Technicolor, Sunset Strip-club, cocaine line on a Marshall stack vibe, but mostly the songs just ain't there. Admittedly, "The World Around You" has a catchy chorus and "Time Is Running Out" is a suitably anthemic pop tune. However, while Papa Roach makes a lot of gestures toward rock & roll suicide on The Paramour Sessions, the album ends up being a lot like lead singer Jacoby Shaddix's confession of "I've got a jet black heart, it's all f*cked up and it's falling apart" on "...To Be Loved." It sounds a lot cooler than it actually is.

Track Lists
01. ...To Be Loved
02. Alive (N Out Of Control)
03. Crash
04. The World Around You
05. Forever
06. I Devise My Own Demise
07. Time Is Running
08. What Do You Do
09. My Heart Is A Fist
10. No More Secrets
11. Reckless
12. The Fire
13. Roses On My Grave
14. Scars (Live) [Bonus Track]