I was obsessed with System of A Down after purchasing their album "Toxicity" and then purchased all of their other albums. All albums have intricate guitar riffs and lyrics but they start to burn out once you get "Hypnotize".

Experimental is one way to describe System, you never know what move they're going to pull next; an instrumental-based or lyrical based album? System of a Down is a fast-paced band that you'll instantly love but they start to burn out really fast after hearing same song after same song over and over again. Serj's voice gets obnoxious, Daron's voice sounds like an American Idol reject's, and the songs get slower and slower. If you're going to buy your very first System of a Down album, I would highly reccomend "Toxicity" or "System of a Down". I warn you, they get really annoying and boring easily.

Like I said, this isn't Green Day, this seems to be a different band resembling...ugh...Good Charlotte a bit. The songs are very overproduced for Green Day, and the music writing bordered on mediocre. Despite this, Billie Joe Armstrong's lyrics were probably as brilliant as they have ever been once you listen to the music instead of say, "Oh my god, this isn't Green Day, I'm gonna go slit my wrists while I listen to Dookie." get over it already, music is changing and Green Day has just become a victim of it.

Call me a little American Idiot poser, but I liked this album. The lyrics were very good, and the songs are great power pop/pop-rock songs, and please buy this album before you base how much you hate it on their singles like American Idiot (catchy song, 3 stars), Holiday (poetry, a bit too long), Boulevard of... (somewhat good, somewhat annoying), Wake Me up when... (droning, sappy), Jesus of Suburbia (good pop-rock song, long, but the lyrics are probably some of the best on the whole album). The key tracks are Letterbomb (a very underated song, it's so good and fast in pace; arguably the best song on American Idiot), Are We Waiting (sounds like a new Green Day instead of a different band), Homecoming (just a great song), St. Jimmy (just very fast and funny to play on drums) and Jesus of Suburbia (very good song that only a few people like). Just listen to the songs instead of get angry or too excited (I'm sure by now that we've seen enough ten year olds wearing red ties and saying how hot the singer is or how much they hate George Bush). The biggest problem was the stream of really mediocre albums released within the niche like Fall Out Boy, Relient K, and All American Rejects,and not to mention, the over excited little kids. American Idiot is a good album, but if you're looking for Green Day, you might not find them on this album. Not punk rock, but great power pop.

The problem: these guys sound way too much like all of the other mainstream hardcore/punk/metalcore/emo bands out, the singer is a cross between the Avenged Sevenfold singer's voice and the Used's Bert McCracken (I can't stand the Used...), the songs are similar to My Chemical Romance and New Found Glory in pace, the guitars are like Thursday's and My Chemical Romance's mixed, and the lyrics are like Rise Against and Atreyu's crossed. If you have ever listened to any of these bands that I've mentioned, these guys sound too much like them.

The good qualities: Like mentioned earlier, I liked the pace of the songs, I'd probably add these guys to my snowboarding playlist and the guitars balanced somewhat well with the vocals. The lyrics didn't quite speak to me, for some reason they had an ambiguous feel I couldn't comprehend to well, but the songs are pretty catchy. They are like a pop-punkish/screamo band, if you like to snowboard or something like that, these guys should be added to your mix of active songs.

I still can't tell if I like this or not, it just is too repetitive and not new I guess. if you listen to My chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, Matchbook Romance, rise Against, or Atreyu, you'll probably find these guys as boring as heck. If you're a poser tweet in either your Slipknot or Fall Out Boy shirt, you'll probably suffocate yourself because of all the makeup you're trying to wear.

Ocean Avenue is a generic pop-rock album with the repeated chords, low complexity, etc.

I really found the lyrics on Ocean Avenue (album) to be a treat, emotional and swaying, resembling the traits of, well, an ocean. The use of violin was quite unique, but it sounded almost too much like an extra rhythm guitar. The drums were barely audible as well as the bass. The songs had no variety to them and when they did, they would sound too different (compare "Way Away" to "Twentythree").

These isn't much to say about Ocean Avenue except that it slips through your fingers very easily.

AFS has a great sound, both catchy and deep to match different tastes. The production quality is great on this album, I couldn't complain a bit. The guitars are great, catchy five chord songs, not bad. The vocals were innocent sounding but could show different facets (angry, sad) and the lyrics were incredibly emotion packed. The problem--there were 12 songs on the album (bonus track) and 50% sounded the same! The scenario seemed to be, "same song, different name and words" alot. The music writing didn't seem to contain much variation beside power chords, but if the vocalist didn't have such an expressive voice, this album would probably be horrible. The variation in the songs seem to be comprised of either "soft-soft-loud-soft-soft-loud-soft" or "loud-loud-soft-loud-soft-soft-loud-soft"; not a whole lot for a talented group of guys! It's not like this is the first band to use little variation, it's becoming more prevalent among nu-metal groups and emo/hardcore groups. The key tracks on What to do when... are Car Underwater, The Truth About Heaven, Stay On the Ground, and I Have Been Right All Along. Don't get me wrong, Armor For Sleep is a likeable band (and this is a likeable album), but if you are looking for variation, there are slim chances that you'll find it. *The key tracks really beat the rest of the album, especially "The Truth About Heaven", probably one of the most emotionally driven songs out of the 21st century.* I give this album a solid 3 stars, you should definitely buy it to add to your collection of modern music.