Album Review: Various - It's A Misery Business (Anti Love Songs For The Anti Valentine)
- Written by Kenny McMurtrie
20 rock tracks on Rhino for the Emo generation, to offset all the hearts and flowers stuff on February 14th. Is it a worthwhile purchase for the Goth/Gothette-lite of your nightmares though?
First off we get a surprisingly robust tune from Nickelback. 'Something In Your Mouth' does, as the title suggests, deal with infidelity (or maybe just pornography) in a manner Sid James would have appreciated. It rocks though. Song two, Paramore's 'Misery Business', is pretty solid fare. They're from Franklin, Tennessee and contribute one song to the Twilight soundtrack. Third up are Slipknot with a tune of unknown vintage ('Dead Memories') although as you can hear every word clearly it must be either new or pretty recent. Either way I preferred them of old and wouldn't be surprised, given the polish on this, if they'd even stopped wearing the funny masks. Fourth off the blocks come Orange County's Atreyu with 'Doomsday', that also features on their album Lead Paper Sails Anchor. It's got a more metal edge to it as well as some good shouting and a decent solo. At this point on the disc things are looking up ...
Letting the side down in the fifth slot are Gallows with 'Orchestra Of Wolves'. "Too piercing", as the guy on 'The Banana Boat Song' would say. Sixth out of the traps are Kill Hannah from Chicago, singing about a girl with lips 'Like Morphine'. The song's pretty heavy with good pace and a glam-ish element about the sound. Elliot Minor from York come in at seven with 'Jessica' and they're rather plaintive and whiny so I skipped forward and then past Panic At The Disco's old hit 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' seeing as by now everyone who'd consider buying this has heard that. That took me up to Cobra Starship's 'Guilty Pleasure' which, despite the decent band name, sounds like High School Musical gone Emo. In at ten are Simple Plan with 'Your Love Is A Lie' which I've a sneaking suspicion may also be a few months old. It's a pretty straightforward heart on the sleeve break-up song anyway. Next on the stereo comes the amusingly named Madina Lake (is it a real place or just funny like Aladdin Sane?), another Chicago outfit. 'Pandora' is more heart on the sleeve stuff. Second on what in the old days would by now have been side two of the LP or cassette (track 12 in new money) are Kids In Glass Houses whose tune 'Girls' seems to be about group sex fantasies. They'd be better off sticking to getting stoned.
At the baker's dozen point we have Fighting With Wire who hale from Derry. 'Everyone Needs A Nemesis' starts off fast and heavy but soon goes disappointingly mid-paced. 14 brings with it Biffy Clyro's 'Mountains' which even I've heard so I guess it may have been a single last year. News to me they were considered Emo though. Into the home straight now with Billy Talent's 'Try Honesty' which turns the angst up to 11. A real back from the grave moment next as Britain's "Offspring on a budget" A treat us to 'Better Off With Him'. I'd no idea they were still on the go but fans will be pleased to know the sound's not changed a bit although this song's not really got any interesting hooks. Third from last we have Jacks Mannequin, who I gave up looking for on MySpace as there are literally tons of false profiles with that name. 'The Mixed Tape' has a nice lot of piano on it and I'm a sucker for making those things up (or at least CDs in that vein) so both facts earn it a positive.
Penultimately we get Cute Is What We Aim For singing 'Loser'. They employ a vocoder effect at one point to try and differ from they're contemporaries. Doesn't really make any difference. Lastly we reach the oddest inclusion on this compilation in the form of Amanda Palmer from The Dresden Dolls. 'Leeds United' is in a class of it's own beside the previous 18 tracks and by far the most adult song here from the kind of woman who'd have the wee boys that have all gone before bricking it. Not exactly something for everyone here then but maybe not a bad disc for a long drive.
(To save you all Googling it Madina Lake is not a real lake but a fictional '50's town where the band set their music. Makes it even more amusing I think.