The Used - Lies For The Liars

It would probably be a bit unfair to compare the latest album from Utah-based screamo punks The Used to My Chemical Romance considering how hard they have tried to escape the label of "that band who used to hang with MCR", but given their shared history and the fact that the bands have almost become rivals, it's impossible not to. And so I will.

Although Lies For The Liars lacks the hard work, thought and effort behind MCR's latest offering, it still has something The Black Parade lacks. It's edgier, weirder, less poppy than Gerard Way's anthemic hospital escapades.

The album begins as Bert and the boys rip into action with the appropriately-titled "The Ripper" before bursting into the genius guitar riffs of "Pretty Handsome Awkward". Although this track allegedly screams insult at former friend Gerard Way - "I hope you choke and die!" - the boys tread dangerous water later as "Hospital" immediately brings to mind the entire concept of The Black Parade.

Thankfully, this album isn't quite as ballad-heavy as its predecessor In Love and Death, although it is considerably more poppy than the band's self-titled debut album of 2002. The Used seem to have developed a strings-fetish, and most tracks are without the throat-wrenching screams associated with their earlier days. However, "Wake The Dead" revives some of their old aggression for a mosh-tastic zombie anthem with a soaring bridge that echoes Pink Floyd.

"Paralyzed" is relentlessly catchy and, for some odd reason, makes me want to dance. "With Me Tonight" is jerky, strange and Broadway-esque, yet weirdly appealing. "The Bird And The Worm" is the complete opposite: full of doom and gloom - cleverly marketing the self-pitying emo kids, methinks - but they carry it off brilliantly. "Earthquake" is an epic ballad and a good track overall, despite the somewhat cheesy chorus ("I never want you to go because I am all yours, so please be all mine.")

The album closes with "Smother Me", a sickly-sweet ballad that will make their early hardcore fans want to punch the wall. While listening to this song, I almost checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally put on the Backstreet Boys. Then, after a minute and thirty seconds of silence, the horrendous bonus track begins to play - the word "quesadilla" and a single beat repeated for a painful twenty-five seconds that leaves you thinking: "HUH?"

Which brings me to my next criticism. The lyrics.

As a die-hard The Used fan, this is pretty painful for me to admit that the lyrics on Lies For The Liars are appalling. For example, take "Liar Liar" (Burn In Hell), where McCracken makes a pretentious and hilarious attempt to put a dark twist on a nursery rhyme:

"Liar, liar pants on fire/ And the pills go down and get you higher..."

Or how about the 90's boy band verses of "Smother Me"?

"Just hold me tight, lay by my side/ And let me be the one who calls you baby all the time..."

Or even that ridiculous line in "Pretty Handsome Awkward":

"You bleed just like you puke while running a mile..."

Uh... you do what?

Right. The bonus track is stupid. The concept character, Chadam, is weird. The lyrics generally suck. Yet somehow, The Used manage to toss out a great album that has earned itself a place at the top of my CD rack next to their two previous albums. Hardcore fans will laugh at it, mainstream pop fans will cower in fear, and MCR fans will probably love it. It's not as ripping as their first album, not as emotional as their second - it looks as if McCracken has gotten the balance just right this time.