Life, Love and Death

Taking on the major elements of life, or more specifically youth angst, The Used pieced together their sophomore release "In Love and Death" following the basic human emotions. The release was a stepped-up, more polished record than its predecessor, the bands self-titled debut.
Vocalist Bert Mckraken has a style seemingly overused today, a combination of scream/sing interplay, occasionally breaking for a moment of ballad style singing; it is an impressive range nonetheless. The bands guitars and rhythm (obviously) make up the music portion, creating a sound that, like everything else, seems to stem from multiple locations. The result is a mixture of emo/punk with a light-hearted rock element; something that was not expected from me upon hearing this record. The use of string arrangements throughout many of the songs, namely 'Lunacy Fringe' is also impressive.
The lead track 'Take It Away' is a trashing song, the next track 'I Caught Fire' than 'Let It Bleed' not following far behind. The discs single 'All That I've Got' is decent, and it's obvious why it was chosen as a single, for its almost poppy nature. Notable tracks are 'Let It Bleed', 'Lunacy Fringe' 'I'm a Fake' and 'Sound Effects and Overdramatics'. The depth of the record - usually dubbed emo, punk, or surprisingly metal - destroys all of these genre allegations and places The Used in their own lonely category. All around this was an impressive effort, rivialling their first, and placing anticipation on their next.