Ooh...as it turns out, we at ConcreteWeb last came across this American “Rock” band on the occasion of the release of their 2007 album Lies For The Liars (for which a review by yours was posted on July 10 of that same year – look it up in our “Archive” section for details on the band's career up to that point)!
Untouched on in that review, is the February 2007 release of the band's first live album Berth (which included a DVD as well as a CD, with recordings done at different concerts). Following the release of Lies..., the band issued a digital-only EP of B-sides, entitled Shallow Believer, which made #14 on iTunes' Top 100 albums. Throughout 2008, the band worked on their 4th album Artwork (released in Summer 2009), taking time out in between to headline the inaugural Get A Life Tour and play at California's Spare the Air Festival. The album was the first on which new drummer Dan Whitesides was featured, and also marked a severing from producer John Feldmann (whom had worked all of The Used's previous albums). In his stead, the band chose for Matt Squire, feeling that the heavier, messier style they'd wanted for their new album was right up Squire's alley. A risky turn, as would be proven by the mixed critics that followed the release. Along the way, the band contributed a cover of Talking Heads' “Burning Down The House” to the cover compilation album Covered, A Revolution In Sound, and got a song of theirs on the soundtrack of the major feature movie Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. In support of their new album, the band undertook a first nationwide US tour in October and November (taking support acts The Almost and Drive A in tow) and did a second one in early 2010 (with Atreyu and Drive A), before joining Three Days Grace on an arena tour in Canada. In April, they again went on a US tour (this time with Chiodus and New Medicine). A planned international tour was canceled that same month...and the band started writing sessions for a new album in stead!
Recording of Vunerable was significantly delayed due to the fact that the band had hoped to move up the corporate ladder: they'd been on Warner subsidiary Reprise Records and had ambitions to see their next album released through the bigger label. They first waited around a bit to see if that would happen, and when Warner wasn't forthcoming they founded their own label Dental Records...a name they had to change to Anger Music Group (as the former was already taken), leading to another delay, and to an eventual release of Vulnerable on March 26, 2012. In support of the album (which successfully debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 charts) the band toured the US during May and June, and then hopped onto the main stage of the Warped Tour 2012, having to cancel their planned Canadian shows due to lead singer Bert McCracken's criminal record there. In January 2013, the band's latest album was re-issued as a 2-disc package entitled Vulnerable (II), and throughout February 2013, the band, with support from We Came as Romans, Crown The Empire and Mindflow, toured the States again on the annual benefit tour organized by Hopeless Records' non-profit organisation Sub City...obviously already laying the blueprints for the band's future signing onto that label's roster, eh? Nevertheless, the band still released their EP The Ocean Of The Sky during July 2013, on their own label! During October of that same year, the band (which, along with the aforementioned McCracken and Whitesides, also comprises guitarist Quinn Allman and bassist Jeph Howard) toured the West Coast of the US with William Control and She Said Fire.
Which brings us to the current release, the band's 6th full-length studio album Imaginary Enemy. In a statement done about the album's lyrical contents, the band's frontman said: “Some view art as a way of escaping reality; others view art as a mirror reflecting our sometimes sad society; we believe art can be a weapon, used to shape the very world we live in. The Used is proud to present to you, Imaginary Enemy”! Well, that sure is a commendable attitude, isn't it? Especially coming from a band which has been somewhat (say quite) successful from the get-go. 'Revolution' preaching, eh? Well, the “taking back what belongs to us” attitude is there alright, what with the band's latest label GAS Union (those first three letters being an abbreviation of 'give a shit') having been erected with the purpose of being the first ever free music label where the musicians obtain all the money from the music they make, filtering out everyone that doesn't have anything to do with the creation or production of it. Sounds like a tough order to me, and a lot of trouble to benefit only a few. So what about society at large then? Revolution, the classic way? Hum, The Powers That Be would never allow that, and suppress it the way they always have in the past, with extreme violence. Nay...personally, I see only óne good way to get things started: the people of the world need to get off their lazy arses, and start demonstrations in front of the Human Rights Court in Den Hague (that IS where they are settled, isn't it?) in order to demand the making of a global law which prohibits politicians (who are supposed to serve the people, and are in fact paid by them, through their income tax contributions) from having mandates in the Industry. I mean, the moment a politician is lobbying for those greedy rich dudes, they stop thinking of the good of the People (and of filling their own pockets while the going is “good”). But now this is me preaching, and we need to get back to The Used's music, don't we!?
Well, expect your usual well-filled type of The Used music, what which you've already come accustomed to. Meaning there's plenty of things filling up the PopPunk-flavoured melodic Heavy Rock tunes. On the home page of the band's own (http://) theused.net, you get a possibility to stream the compléte album...oh, I didn't quite check the album's closing track, “Overdose” though. You see, on the album there's a hidden bonus track following a short silence after the song. A weird track with Spoken Word vocals (as already used in two other songs on the album) which is, I guess, best described as heavily influenced by Hip Hop. Nice though!