Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending

Dashboard Confessional are back with Alter the Ending, the follow up to 2006's Dusk and Summer. On this album, the Boca Raton, FL group show immense musical maturity from their earlier works and continue to create earnest and heartfelt anthems that speak to a whole generation of youth growing up today.

The album starts off with "Get Me Right", a mid tempo number with indelible guitar riffs and frontman Chris Carrabba's powerful and emotional vocals building up all that energy towards the song's climax. "Until Morning" is an anthemic and melodic number that is sure to be an energy booster with its powerful drums and crunchy guitar riffs. "Everybody Learns From Disaster" is a low key, heartfelt affair with its simple guitar arrangements and lush melodies spread throughout. "Belle of the Boulevard", the album's first single, is a mid tempo, melodic tune with Chris's vocals adding musical dexterity to the track, making this song one of the standouts on this album.

Other highlights from the album include "I Know About You", a high energy melodic number that is sure to have you singing along whenever you hear it. "Even Now" is a largely acoustic affair, eloquently showcasing Chris's emotionally descriptive lyrics and heart tugging melodies. "No News is Bad News" exercises the same musical qualities, but with more varied experimentation and more of a complete band effort. Dashboard Confessional have always been known for creating deep, emotional ballads that resonate particularly strongly with teenagers and young adults, perhaps alluding to romantic occurrences happening in their everyday lives.

My favorite track off the album is "Hell on the Throat", an emotional and beautiful ballad that has wonderful instrumentation on all fronts, faint piano notes heard in the background and acoustic guitar riffs heard up front just adding to the incredible array of emotion on display here.

In retrospect, a wonderful and complete effort from Dashboard Confessional, a band who aren't afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves, showcasing the raw and pure emotion that permeates so much of their music and has built up quite a loyal following because of it.

                                                                                                                  Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. Get Me Right
2. Until Morning
3. Everybody Learns From Disaster
4. Belle of the Boulevard
5. I Know About You
6. Alter the Ending
7. Blame It on the Changes
8. Even Now
9. The Motions
10. No News Is Bad News
11. Water and Bridges
12. Hell on the Throat

Person L - The Positives

Philadelphia, PA's Person L have returned with The Positives, the follow up to last year's Initial. The side project of The Starting Line frontman Kenny Vasoli, this album finds the group using their influences and pushing the boundaries of music to create a dynamic and cohesive effort that is their best album to date and the best album of the year so far.

The album starts off with "Hole in the Fence", a calm, melancholy track that sets everything in motion here with Kenny's soothing and powerful voice allowing the song to coast along with ease. "Good Days" is a melodic and powerful tune brimming with positivity, and polished guitar riffs coupled with the transcendent drum work of Brian Medlin. The album's title track is an electric infused track with a rhythmic drum beat that adds even more variety into the mix. "Goodness Gracious" is a loud and furious track that has Kenny singing, "I've been hearing rumors about a revolution".

Other highlights from the album include "New Sensation", a James Brown, R&B style influenced jam that sounds like a throwback to the late 50's early 60's music era that works extremely well here. "Sit Tight" is a melodic, straight forward rocker that adds more depth to an already outstanding and dynamic album with its gritty guitar riffs and Kenny's vocals once again taking charge. "Pleasure is All Mine" is a wonderful and resilient track that showcases the amazing talents of everyone in the group, and shows how much they've matured and musically evolved from their last album.

My favorite track off the album is "Untitled". On this track Kenny sings, "I was going through a change", and that change has certainly done him good as this new outlet has enabled him to move past The Starting Line and make the music that he always wanted to create without any oversight from a major record label. This track in particular was written without a title in mind probably because Kenny meant it to have no title in the first place, but the listener itself could probably come up with their own title, which may hold special meaning for anything that they have going on in their lives right now.

All in all, a spectacular listen from start to finish that finds Person L coming into their own as a group, and becoming more than just a side project. This album is a true representation of their sound that is made on their own terms, and the guys wouldn't have made this album any other way, Definitely go and buy this album now! Highly recommended!

                                                                                                                         Album Score: 5/5

Note: This album is currently available only on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and via the Academy Fight Song website at: academyfightsong.bigcartel.com. For more information on Person L, go to their website at www.myspace.com/personl

Track Listing

1. Hole in the Fence
2. Good Days
3. The Positives
4. Goodness Gracious
5. New Sensation
6. Stay Calm
7. Sit Tight
8. Loudmouth
9. Changed Man
10. Pleasure is All Mine
11. Untitled
12. I Sing the Body Electric