Compilation Review: It’s A Misery Business

19 January 2009

It’s A Misery Business

So we know from the outset, that A) this is going to be a ‘proper’ Emo record full of songs about heartbreak, self-harm and skinny fit jeans… and B) that it’s pretty likely there is going to be an offering from Paramore on here - the name kinda gives it away.

So as I flick through the tracks, I realise that I’m right on both counts; pat on the back for Ruth! So, the record describes itself as “perfect for those trying to escape the terror of Valentines Day and for those wishing to give a middle finger to teddy bears and love hearts.

Well note to makers of this CD… Emo kids are all about teddy bears and love hearts, albeit teddy bears with their heads ripped off and black hearts with teardrops falling out of them… but teddies and hearts nonetheless.

I guess I should begin by pointing out that this CD is full of tracks I love, and I also love valentines day, and I also think that kids who hang around graveyards need to get a life - see what I did there?! - and perhaps spend their valentines day with my good self; as it looks like the only red in my life on February 14 will be two bottles of Blossom Hill. Classy I know.

So, the CD has the usual mix of Emo ‘hits’ from the likes of Elliot Minor and their standard droneful love song Jessica - which has provided hours of amusement for my housemate, who is convinced Alexander Davies wrote that with her in mind. Then there are those bizarre folk in Panic! At The Disco with their ridiculously long song titles offering up the overplayed hit I Write Sins Not Tragedies.

But it also has some uber-quality tracks nestling on there, from the likes of my favourite band of all time, Biffy Clyro and their mind-blowing hit, Mountains, my celebrity best mates in Kill Hannah and Atreyu belting out Lips Like Morphine and Doomsday; both tracks gracing my ‘Driving CD’ that I made when I was bored at work last week.

There is also a wonderful attempt at a love song from the gorgeous Pierre Bouvier and friends in Simple Plan with their ridiculously good song Your Love Is A Lie; which sounds remarkably like Green Day's Boulevard Of Broken Dreams from the start. Elsewhere though, the incredible Billy Talent and their hypnotic Try Honesty pump up the pace and Nickelback make an appearance with their quite raunchy track Something In Your Mouth. Can someone please tell Chad Kroeger to stop trying to do dirty… the only filth he has is in that matted mane upon his head.

Finally, there (as expected) are a few misses on the album; Slipknot’s Dead Memories in which Corey Taylor sounds worryingly similar to the aforementioned Chad Kroger, and those ‘Sarf Landan’ folk in Gallows, who I’m afraid I just don’t get - probably because the whole Cockney accent is lost on us Northern Birds… who knows.

But despite my own personal taste knocking a few of the tracks, this is the first compilation CD of 2009 to be; ‘All Killer, No Filler’ to quite Sum 41, and you know what, I think it could even persuade some kid with backcombed hair, a Funeral For A Friend t-shirt and an unhealthy amount of eyeliner from crying into their polka dot pillow not only on February 14, but for the rest of 2009.

Hurrah! for Emo kids!

Rating: 5/5 - It’s going to be on repeat on my iTunes for a good few months

Skip To: Biffy Clyro - Mountains. If I have to explain why, then you need to get your ears checked.

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison

Nickelback - Something In Your Mouth
Paramore - Misery Business
Slipknot - Dead Memories
Atreyu - Doomsday
Gallows - Orchestra Of Wolves
Kill Hannah - Lips Like Morphine
Elliot Minor - Jessica
Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Cobra Starship - Guilty Pleasure
Simple Plan - Your Love Is A Lie
Madina Lake - Pandora
Kids In Glass Houses - Girls
Fighting With Wire - Everyone Needs A Nemesis
Biffy Clyro - Mountains
Billy Talent - Try Honesty
A - Better Off With Him
Jacks Mannaquin - The Mixed Tape
Cute Is What We Aim For - Loser
Amanda Palmer - Leeds United