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by Tony Pascarella Published: September 20, 2005
Aiden is yet another band out of music's West Coast hotbed, Seattle. The five-piece self-described horror rock band has been around for two years, and can be compared stylistically to My Chemical Romance. Their current vocalist previously played bass before switching to singing when the band added their current bass player. Our Gang's Dark Oath was Aiden's first LP, came out in June of last year. Their Victory debut, Nightmare Anatomy, will be released on October 4th. Aiden Is: Wil (Vocals) Jake W. (Guitar) Angel (Guitar) Nick (Bass) Jake D. (Drums) Perhaps the most damning statement about Aiden's Nightmare Anatomy can be found in the press release. It says in part, "The songs on the album are imbued with references to pain, darkness, immortality, and redemption." One of Victory Records' string of "tweener" bands, Aiden seems to struggle with an identity crisis both on a physical and musical level. "The Last Sunrise" is one of those made-for-MTV singles that gives the channel "underground" cred because they play something out of the mainstream. Unfortunately, it comes off as boring crap. The screams are mistimed, poorly placed, poorly executed, or a combination of all three throughout the track. Lyrically, this song makes a similarly derivative band, My Chemical Romance, look like Bob Dylan by comparison. It's just flat-out uninspiring. Over squealing guitars, the vocalist known simply as Wil proves just how ineffective he really is on the album's opener, "Knife Blood Nightmare." Once those of you with the oddball sense of humor such as yours truly stop laughing at the title, you can begin to do the same to the song. The screaming is halfway decent, but Wil's voice sounds like a deranged mash-up of Pierre Bouvier and Gerard Way, while the lyrics just leave the listener wondering, "Are these guys for real?" I counted 11 references in "Knife Blood Nightmare" (twelve if you count the title) to blood or bleeding. I can't count high enough if I were to add in the mentions of death, dying, or healing (in all seriousness, I'd put it a hair under twenty if you total both categories). Moving on, we can focus a little more on the instruments that the guys from Aiden play. "Genetic Design for Dying" is about on par with its predecessor, "Die Romantic." Neither is overly striking, and the vocals drag both down considerably. Aiden seems to want to be another almost-hardcore/screamo band with their pulsating yet obvious riffs and fanatic reliance on drumming. But rather than moving fully into the genre by implementing screams (which do get better as the album progresses), and roughing up the songs a bit, they're content to be as generic as possible. "Breathless" is one of the better songs to grace the tracklist of Nightmare Anatomy. While it covers the same themes that pop up in every other nook and cranny of the album, Wil's voice is slightly stronger and less irritating. Frankly, it makes all the difference in the world; "Breathless" at least borders on catchy, and I'd qualify it for the second single. Jake D. contributes a solid effort on drums, but it's largely too little, too late. He continues to impress on "Unbreakable (I.J.M.A.)," with staccato bursts of snare; the song is otherwise only notable because of a wailing guitar riff and the heavier mood. By now, you should be thoroughly tired of Aiden. If you aren't, they're still striving to turn Nightmare Anatomy into your newest coaster. "It's Cold Tonight" can be coupled with "Enjoy the View" due to their tiresome sound. You'll hear nothing new with these songs, unfortunately. The laughably-written tale of a suicidal couple known as "Goodbye, We're Falling Fast" is downright lame. "Your pretty face, disguised in a veil of fear/Drips with tears as I gave you one last kiss before the fall/Hold my hand, you're so beautiful/Let's escape from this life and end it all/On three we're jumping from this ledge/This building's tall; I'm sure we'll wake up dead, but I still love her." Oh yeah, those may be some of the best lyrics you'll find out of this band. With the twin terrors "This City is Far from Here" and "See You In Hell," Nightmare Anatomy stumbles to a close. Wil isn't as nasal-sounding on the former, which is a big change when compared to the majority of the album. In fact, I don't mind it all that much. However, the latter is pure, unadulterated musical idiocy. Gang vocals don't do anything for the song, which, at six-plus minutes (there's a pause and a bonus rant as well) leaves an extended bad taste in your mouth. I'll refrain from commenting on the lyrics; I can't say anything that hasn't been said already. Barely forty minutes after it began, and about thirty-eight minutes too long, Nightmare Anatomy fades to a close for the final time. The band gets you by fading the song itself out before the four-minute mark, but Aiden returns briefly for an ethereal yet totally bizarre monologue. We have an album with all the makings of mediocrity. Wil's vocals are largely terrible, and occasionally passable. The guitar riffs and rhythm section do tend to show a little bit of inspiration, but they are vastly overshadowed by Jake D. So here we have one band member with "it" and the rest searching for their talent in a bucket of fish. I'm firmly against wasting your hard-earned money on a coaster candidate (I think I may have a new name for my Worst of '05 awards) in Nightmare Anatomy. I suppose if you enjoy that blend of crap-metal that is neither metal nor anything else it claims to be (in Aiden's case, it's heavy hardcore and punk rock), and one hundred percent dreck, then Aiden might be for you. My suggestion to you folks is to remember it's down the road, not across the street. Hopping off my soapbox for a second, this album without a doubt surpasses A Static Lullaby's Faso Latido for the worst album of 2005 at this point. Pass on it; you'll be glad you did.
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