Singles Roundup: Creeper, Spanish Love Songs, The Wonder Years, & Avenged Sevenfold

This week, we almost have a perfect emo theme. Let's dig in.

Creeper - Cry To Heaven

The biggest release this week is the first single from a new Creeper album. Their first two albums have been wildly different, but tons of fun. This new chapter seems to once again be going down a new path, with a heavier 80s influence seeping into the music. The synthetic sounds dominate, but like a plastic fondue pot, still give us all the cheese we could ever want. What I love about Creeper is how you can hear they don't take their ultra-emo completely seriously, and that is why it works so well. In a way, this song reminds me of what Ghost was doing on their most recent album, but with their camp factor still in play. I'm not super keen on the 80s stuff, to be honest, but Creeper is giving me reason to think they can pull it off.

Spanish Love Songs - Haunted

I didn't quite 'get' "Brave Faces Everyone". Many people talked it up as a life-changing album, and while it did make my Top Ten list that year, all the lyrics about drug abuse and whatnot didn't resonate with my life experience. It was a great album, but one I couldn't get as close to as I would like to have. This first taste of their new album tells me that experience was probably a one-off, as I don't understand this track at all. The viceral power from the last album is completely gone. There's almost no energy to the music or the vocal delivery, and the roaring hooks got sucked into the needle, and never got dispensed back to us. I now have very little expectation of liking the album.

The Wonder Years - Goddamnitall

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of a record, The Wonder Years have given us a new song just months after their triumphant Album Of The Year. At some point I will have to dive into their past and hear what I missed out on, but for right now this track is doing a good job of it. The power I was talking about being missing from Spanish Love Songs is all over this track. The Wonder Years dig in and play like their lives depend on it, and you can hear the difference when a band is pouring their everything into a song. This is what we need more of.

Avenged Sevenfold - We Love You

Now isn't that an ironic title? They certainly do not love us by putting this song out, as like their last single, it is a baffling composition whose appeal is entirely lost on me. This one doesn't just suffer from bad production and even worse vocals, it's the kind of song that thinks it's smart in hiding a crayon by shoving it up its nose. The song has multiple parts, and while none of them are particularly interesting, there's no effort at all to tie them together in any way that makes sense. It jolts from one bit to the next, making me think back to the days when CD players were apt to skip. It's absolutely horrid songwriting, and I know we all have different taste, but to hear fans praising this makes me wonder if music is a shared experience after all.