Review Summary: Both better and worse than people make it out to be, All's Well That Ends Well is baby steps above decent.
Chiodos –
All’s Well That Ends Well
Criminally overrated and underrated is
Chiodos’ full-length debut, All’s Well That Ends Well. The praise it sparks (among rabid fans) is primarily in response to vocalist Craig Owens and his ridiculously high voice, with this also being the source of incessant criticism. There isn’t anything out of the ordinary with the blend of pop punk and post-hardcore they play, save for maybe the addition of a keyboard, but it stands out amongst the sea of popular garbage that is around today. It’s semi-technical instrumentally, inventive if you’re looking at the song titles and the frequent awkward sounding tones, and at the same time it’s catchy enough for the radio and millions upon millions of plays on Myspace. The latter could be Craig Owens again.
Already I’ve probably made it clear that Owens is the centerpiece of
Chiodos, whether you love him or hate him. He is essentially a poor band’s Anthony Green; it seems like he can hit the same highs, but they are far whinier and often painful, and his screams unfortunately sound like a deranged Scooby Doo. He also pales in comparison to Green live, but so do many others. It is easy to assume that a lot of production is used to gloss up his voice, even if it makes it regularly irritating. That said, if one can’t enjoy his vocals, there are songs where it’s easy to put them aside and enjoy the other musical aspect of the band, the instrumentals. Very seldom does the band fail on both fronts during the course of a single song.
They are rarely perfect though. Other than
There’s No Penguins In Alaska and
No Hardcore Dancing In The Living Room, a single song will have occasional iffy moments, if not just plain bad moments.
We’re Gonna Have Us A Champagne Jam is packed with interesting guitar and piano riffs and chords, but the vocals are some of the worst on the album, and on an album where the quality of the vocals is mediocre, that is saying a lot.
The Words “Best Friend” Become Redefined has an explosive start fueled by guitar, followed by a soft piano section, but there is nothing special to follow. It all becomes somewhat repetitive after the initial listen, not so much because the music is all the same, but the vocals never do anything new within the album, and the songs are consistently structure-less. It would also be nice to hear some more bass, but to generalize, the intended audience doesn’t really care.
With All’s Well That Ends Well,
Chiodos created a moderately solid but exceptionally opinion-based album. The vocals inevitably stand as the reason to enjoy or loathe it, regardless of whether the instrumental aspect of the band is superior to your run of the mill popular Myspace band, although in some places they even resort to recycling. I somewhat feel that it’s a positive that people listen to and love
Chiodos, because like they did for me, they will help one transition from this sort of pop-influenced music with alarming and frowned upon vocals to far superior music. A few of their better tracks here are worth checking out, but only buy All’s Well That Ends Well if you love Craig Owens to death.
Top 3:
No Hardcore Dancing In The Living Room
There’s No Penguins In Alaska
One Day Women Will All Become Monsters
Stinkers:
Who’s Sandie Jenkins – the only redeeming quality about this song is its 2-minute runtime. An absolute disgusting piece of music, if one could even call it that.
Baby, You Wouldn’t Last A Minute On The Creek – a nice opening riff is followed by excessive Craig Owens singing that is blatantly over-produced, and the song is repetitive.
Score: 3/5
