Lies For The Liars

The story of The Used began way back in 1990, when three fresh-faced musicians came together wanting to start a band: guitarist Quinn Allman, bassist Jeph Howard and now-former member, drummer Branden Steinkert. The lineup wasn’t complete, though. They were frantically searching for a singer who could also handle the frontman role. After a long hunt they finally found the right voice, one that still rings out from the band’s records today – Bert McCracken, Quinn’s friend from school. With the new frontman up front, they recorded a demo record, Demos From The Basement, and after its release they reaped their first positive reviews and grew their fan base, and then things started getting complicated – with the name. They originally called themselves Used, but soon found out that a band with the same name had been running around Boston for quite a while. So they stuck a “The” in front, and they proudly carry the name to this day – The Used. ‘A Box Full Of Sharp Objects’ is the signature hit from the self-titled album The Used, released in 2002. The album’s release was followed by a breakthrough into the very top tier of established emo names, which opened the door to a DVD and CD release, Maybe Memories, a gift to the fans that also introduced the whole band and everything they’d done up to then; since they went big with the project, they added a CD of demos on top of the release, along with some unreleased live material. Still, the guys didn’t rest on the laurels of their old glory, so they headed out on a huge tour instead, crisscrossed the USA and worked on material for a new record they planned to release in 2004, but just a week after the recording wrapped, tragedy struck the frontman. His girlfriend Kate died from complications during pregnancy. The album came out a little later – under a changed and meaningful name, In Love and Death, and it went triple platinum and brought them the biggest success of their career. They kicked the record off with a cover of the song, or rather the fruit of the collaboration between Queen and David Bowie, ‘Under Pressure’, which The Used recorded with New Jersey’s My Chemical Romance. Bigger success meant a bigger tour. In 2005 they hit the road on the Taste Of Chaos tour and backed up the promotion of the new material with yet another DVD – Berth. By their own account, it was meant as a sequel and complementary add-on to the previous DVD, since content-wise it offers just another CD and 3 more music videos.

Their latest studio effort, though, is the album Lies For The Liars. After lineup changes, with longtime drummer Steinckert leaving to join the punk outfit Rancid, they struggled to find a suitable new member. The drum void was temporarily filled by Dean Butterworth, drummer of Good Charlotte, and he recorded most of the album’s tracks with them. Luckily, there was drummer shuffling going on in New Transit Direction too, and when Dan Whitesides left them, he took the drum throne in The Used as a permanent member.

Lies For The Liars serves up a softer version of the emo core they’ve been dishing out to us so far. The main common thread in the lyrics is still the tragic death of Bert’s girlfriend, and as far as the words go, the album is just a continuation of what’s already been spun out. The step forward shows in the music, since the distorted layers of guitar riffs now get wind and string arrangements too (this time the album shamelessly blasts out trumpets and violins). The surprise is all the bigger because at times I really miss the aggressive screaming I’m used to from the older albums. The first track is ‘The Ripper’, which leads us with an interesting intro into an energetic, riff-packed number. The guitars weave in balance with the electronics here, and after the opening aural provocation comes the album’s second single, for which they also shot a video that, in my opinion, is pretty unconvincing. The song itself, ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’, is far more convincing, a magical blend of mellow music that still doesn’t deny its emo core noise roots. The first video from the new record was shot for the song ‘The Bird And The Worm’, where you’ll hear barely audible layers of violins for the first time. The song’s tempo swings between speed and punch on one side and slowness and calm on the other. Personally, my favorite is ‘Earthquake’. The singer’s love, which was sincere and managed to cross over to the other side and reach beyond the death of his prematurely departed girlfriend, paints pictures of sorrow and suffering and deep feeling. An arsenal of emo core riffs and violins fits the words tightly, and the pretty emotional and one-of-a-kind vocal performance deserves a special mention. The end of ‘Earthquake’ flows into the next track, ‘Hospital’, where they atmospherically conjure up the dread, pain and agony of a hospital setting. The Used paint pictures of feeling with veristic, shattering intensity, which gets cut through by the sixth song, a bouncy one where you can actually catch bits of that much-wanted screaming and tastefully added trumpets – ‘Paralyzed’, while ‘With Me Tonight’ is a somewhat disruptive factor on the record. And not because of the song, which, hmmm, has next to nothing wrong with it. It’s the title that bugs me, since the guys very clearly sing “With me today” and not “tonight”. A slip-up? The song is great anyway. ‘Wake The Dead’ really does sound like they want to wake the dead, because The Used are brutally loud. After a few bars of chaos and violent tones the song calms down and a veil of gorgeous female voice enters the track, weaving with Bert’s vocals into an epic whole. Calm. Catharsis. This is followed by the final reckoning and the pouring of the last atoms of anger, rage and suffering into a wall of noise. One of the least appealing moments on the record, in my opinion, is the song ‘Find A Way’, which would put off any emo core fan with its lyrical and melodic drivel in the manner of Britney Spears. The Used disappoint here, because I know they’re capable of a more honest track and not such a sugary album filler. A ton of sugar gets washed away by the sound of a police siren and, in my opinion, one of the favorites – the song ‘Liar Liar (Burn In Hell)’. You can feel The Used again in that old, unspoiled fullness. The grand finale of the latest The Uased full-length is the song ‘Smoother Me’. A touch of melancholy and a predictable ballad, where Bert sits down at the piano. The guitars ring out restrained and the drumsticks hit with a quarter of their usual power. A breather from the strain of the record? After a half-minute pause following the end of the ballad comes one more hidden surprise. A short track or, if we’re being honest, more of a rap outburst. Being a huge The Used fan, I’d hoped I’d never have to compare them to Britney or to rap and pop music in general, and that they’d stay true to their guidelines and their music. A moment of weakness, I sincerely hope…

Despite a few missteps, the album is excellent. Still, The Used have way more energy live, since the guys are tightly in sync and Bert’s vocal chops are astonishing. Part of the dream the guys from Utah started dreaming years ago has already come true, and as a fangirl I hope the next record reflects even more of the chemistry they undoubtedly have. About that, my dears, there’s no doubt whatsoever …