Product Description

With 2004's IN LOVE AND DEATH, emo icons the Used go to thenext level in polishing up their production without losing any of the raw emotion that's defined their work. For their second studio album, the Utah quartet taps into the same degree of angst, but with the perspective of people who've beenimmersed in a world gilded by fame and success. "Light witha Sharpened Edge" and "Take It Away" reverberate with desperation amid waves of pile-driving riffs and singer Bert McCracken's howl.
Still, there's no doubt that the Used have embraced more of a pop approach, be it the eminently catchy "I Caught Fire", with its uber-hooks and choruses, or the loping "Cut Up Angels", which is one Joe Perry guitar solo away from being a late-era Aerosmith outtake. Most impressive is the Used's stylistic risk-taking (glockenspiel and soothing vocals on the lo-fi "Yesterday's Feelings", the Burt Bacharach-meets-the Cure oddity "Lunacy Fringe", complete with strings and brushed drums). On IN LOVE AND DEATH, the Used succeeds in adding yet another twist to the emo aesthetic.

Track Listing

1. Take It Away
2. I Caught Fire
3. Let It Bleed
4. All That I've Got
5. Cut Up Angels
6. Listening
7. Yesterday's Feelings
8. Light With A Sharpened Edge
9. Sound Effects And Overdramatics
10. Hard To Say
11. Lunacy Fringe
12. I'm A Fake

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18972 in Music
• Released on: 2005-01-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Album Description
First album? Gold. CD+DVD? Gold. Since the release of its critically acclaimed self-titled debut in mid-2002, The Used have quickly become a musical powerhouse. Now, with In Love and Death, the band's second album, The Used have truly found their voices--it's honest, uncompromising, loud and strong.

"I Caught Fire" is irresistible, because it uses its big-budget filters and six-string layers as an advantage, building tension for the song's triumphant chorus release. "Take It Away" sees the inherent, timeless power of a solid riff, and actually revitalises the ridiculously played-out singing guy/screaming guy dynamic that so many groups in this scene faithfully rely on. "Cut Up Angels", too, is a nice departure, offering fans a modified pop gem that lightens the album's mood considerably.

Customer Reviews

Heartfelt and Fantastic
This was the first album I heard from The Used. The songs that got me hooked was I Caught Fire (In your eyes) and Hard to Say. Before I listened to the songs or the album my friend, a used fan too, was talking about how dissapointed she was with the album because she expected harder, aggressive songs and more screaming, but I love the album like this. No song feels out of place in the album.

My personal favorites are Take It Away, I caught fire (great riff by Quinn and i love the lyrics in this song), Let It Bleed (took a while to grow on me but I'm hooked now and again i love the lyrics), Sound Effects and Overdramatics (in my opinion one of the best songs on the albums - "Make a circle square, a rectangle curve
Use a smile as a noun and I think like a verb") and my favorite at the moment Hard To Say (one of the best songs bert has written, most heartfelt and emotional. most likely about his ex-girlfriend who passed away. such a touching song and a tearjerker. makes my sister bawl. beautiful song. then I'm A Fake and All That I've Got - both great songs. the beginning of I'm a Fake was a little cringing and made my brother laugh his ass off but the rest of the song is great and strong.

I could go on and on about all these songs. I love all of them and this album is one of my favorites. Can't stop playing it one my iPod.

Woah.
I've had this album for a few years now and i still haven't got bored of it.
This is the second album from The Used and after buying MCR's "Three cheers for..." and realising they'd turned into a pop band i had my doubts about this album as they're pretty close in genre.
But i wasn't disappointed The Used have made yet another awesome album.
It is not emo nor screamo so don't listen to those kiddies that say it is, more rock/post hXc.

Best thing is Bert's lyrics aren't whingy and you can tell that they weren't written by a 16 year old boy.
Which is more that can be said for alot bands these days.
Eg. Simple plan/ My chemical romance / Hawthorne heights.
You get the picture.

There are quite a few standout tracks on the album.
Personal faves are:

Take it away
I caught fire (In your eyes)
All that i've got
Listening
& I'm a fake

Overall i still have alot of respect for The Used even after they went mainstream.

Absurd.
Heartfelt? Very meaningful? What is that being based on? The lyrics that repeat twelve times every song, the rubbish drum fills, the 'intelligent' lyrics that prove they're out of their depth? Sure, the vocalist 'sounds' like he means the lyrics, but that's because he's such a terrible singer that he sounds like he's in pain. At least Chris Martin of Coldplay doesn't pretend the lyrics mean anything to him - rather, he wants other people to cheer up. The same can't be said for The Used. They just think they're stars, but actually this album is sewage.

This is not a one star album on its own. It's a two star or possibly a three star if you enjoy it to its full extent. But compared to the far superior self titled debut album, it's worthless. Simple as that.