Aiden – Conviction
Victory Records (8/21/07)
Post-emo / Rock / Pop
This post-emo, pop-rock genre/scene that Aiden seems to fall into is a turgid one, filled with bands more interested in coming up with a ridiculous name, album and/or song titles, and short on inspired music. Aiden sort of straddles this fine line. On the one hand, the band is tight, somewhat creative (musically) and knows how to create a hook; on the other, the music the band makes is aimed at a very specific demographic—the Hot Topic teen set. And, for the most part, the lyrics reflect as much.
But here’s the thing. The band is one of the better ones holding a torch in the genre, and the music is downright infectious. Conviction is crafted to near perfection—short little bursts of unassuming and nonthreatening power-(pop)rock. Think Taking Back Sunday circa 2002, only with weaker lyrics (for the most part).
For every “Teenage Queen”, “One Love” and “Wait”—songs too stereotypical for their own good with tales of love, lost love or unrequited love (or prom night, for that matter)—there’s other tracks that show the band could shed this weak shroud to create a stronger, better album if it really wanted to. Lyrically, something like “Bliss”, which is probably one of the strongest songs on the album, doesn’t offer much, but it’s creative and dark, and the musical hooks are pretty sharp (the song has a dangerous edge that the group otherwise lacks). Starting off with “The Opening Departure” is a genre cliché, too, at this point, but the piano track is also one of the stronger songs on the disc. The same goes for closer “The Sky Is Falling”, the acoustic song that explodes in a full-group chant-a-long to finish off the album. You can almost picture a crowd at the band’s show, all the teens with their dyed jet-black hair combed over their eyes, pierced lips and band T-shirts pounding their fists to each line.
And that, in a nutshell, is the love/hate relationship with Conviction, as it’s nothing new and completely derivative, but with each spin it gets under your skin like a drug—it’s so catchy you start to believe it’s really good. But is it? Well, it’s better than most of the 1,500 other bands out there doing the exact same thing right now. The real testament will be if the band can manage to outgrow the subject matter and mature to a new audience (like the aforementioned Taking Back Sunday), or burn itself out and fade away.
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