Atrist: The Used | Album: Shallow Believer EP | Music Review

Tracklist:
1. Dark Days

2. Slit Your Own Throat

3. Devil Beside You

4. Into My Web

5. My Pesticide

6. Choke Me

7. Sun Comes Up

8. Sick Hearts

9. Back Of Your Mouth

10. Tunnel

Release Date: 02/19/2008 Summary: This EP shows a marked improvement from the disappointment that was Lies For The Liars.
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Oh, The Used. I fell in love with your self-titled album way back in senior year of high school. I would roll down the windows to my car and blast Maybe Memories and Say Days Ago until I couldn't hear anymore. Then sophomore year of college rolled around, and I couldn't wait to pick up your new album, In Love And Death. While not as explosive as your first album, I got used to the new, more poppy direction, and really enjoyed songs like Take It Away, Let It Bleed, and Sound Effects And Overdramatics. Then it came time for your third full-length, and I was hearing comparisons to The Black Parade, and I started to get scared. After a cursory listen to Lies For The Liars, I knew it wasn't worthy of buying. It contained some of the best songs you've written (The Ripper and Pretty Handsome Awkward), but there was also so much filler that it hurt.



I'm still a fan, so I decided to check out the Shallow Believer EP (although, I don't really know how a release with 10-songs can be called an EP, but whatever). I was so pleasantly surprised by this release. First of all, the artwork is great. Second, the quality of the songs is just miles above most of the filler that was found on Lies For The Liars. The slower/poppy songs on this one (Dark Days, Sick Hearts, Devil Beside You) are great, unlike Find A Way and Smother Me. The faster/harder ones (Slit Your Own Throat, My Pesticide) recall the early, glory days of The Used. In addition, The Back Of Your Mouth succeeds at employing horns, as opposed to the failure of some of the more experimental songs on Lies For The Liars.



There are some complaints, though. Tunnel and Sun Comes Up should have been left off this release. Also, where is Pain? That is by far one of The Used's best unreleased songs. If Shallow Believer dropped two or three tracks (including Choke Me - a great song, but it's already included on the self-titled album), and added Pain, The Ripper, and Pretty Handsome Awkward, then this would be the CD that should have been released in place of Lies For The Liars.



The Used have so much potential. I'm constantly baffled at how they can keep producing albums with fantastic songs right next to awful ones. They obviously know how to rock, and they are certainly adept at crafting a solid pop song - so why can't they make a 12-song album with all good songs? Here's to hoping that the fourth full-length finds The Used capitalizing on their strengths and getting the formula right. In the meantime, pick this one up - it's worth it.



(This release is only available for digital download - so head over to iTunes or Amazon).