Aiden Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
Seattle-based, Misfits-loving, emo-goth rock outfit Aiden's fourth full-length album trades the mild industrial eyeliner vibe of previous releases for a full-throated punk metal-infused roar that will likely draw comparisons to fellow angst-worshippers Avenged Sevenfold, AFI, My Chemical Romance, and Taking Back Sunday. As far as unapologetic, image-driven chroniclers of teenage hate go, Aiden is no better or worse than any of its contemporaries, employing big hooky choruses, lyrics that feel pulled directly from the back cover of tenth grade notebooks, and enough expletives to warrant a clean version, but all of the manufactured rage in the world can't outrun the fleet feet of cliché. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Billed as a band that blends punk, post-hardcore, and goth sounds, Aiden is actually a bit more straightforward than that: their sound is a surprisingly well-developed blend of melodic punk and screamo. The goth influence is mainly visual: in the liner photos their heavily made-up eyes all glare out at you from under diagonal, dyed-black bangs. Ink, piercings, baleful stares -- they've got the whole look down pat. In fact, Aiden's visual image is so generic that it actually lowers expectations for their music, which takes you by surprise with both its lyrical subtlety (okay, its relative lyrical subtlety) and its pop-smart structure. None of the eleven songs on Aiden's sophomore album is less than good, and several -- including the disturbingly hooky (given its subject matter) "Die Romantic" and the rhythmically disjointed "Unbreakable (I.J.M.A.)" -- border on excellence. "Genetic Design for Design" offers a surprisingly sincere plea for parental forgiveness, and "Goodbye, We're Falling Fast" is perhaps the most fun and exhilarating slab of screamo yet recorded. Very young and very early in their careers, the members of Aiden offer much hope for their future here. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
'Our Gangs Dark Oath'
Release Date 6/8/2004
Tracks 11
Label DeAd Teenager Record
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Judging from the group shot on the back of Our Gangs Dark Oath, Aiden weren't always the eyeliner-heavy, gothed-out rockers with a penchant for morose lyrics and song titles that they'd become by their 2005 Victory debut. At one point in time, it seems they were just five normal punk rockers who happened to like horror movies. However, what they could become with the right budget, desire, and fashion consultant is certainly hinted at throughout the disc. Aiden offer up a competent, if not slightly generic, dose of post-hardcore with a dark punk edge that relies on a vocal assault that aligns surging singing bits with shrieking back vocals. But instead of coming off as straight-up classicist screamo, the habitually distraught guttural attacks manage to be forgettable enough that the group sounds more like the younger cousins of My Chemical Romance or AFI who just happened to be weaned in a screamo scene. Will Franco has a hardcore voice that at times resembles a much tougher, adolescent version of Davey Havok. Representative of the album, "I Set My Friends on Fire" is a perfect example of this marriage of images; an onslaught of abrasive growls drives the song into a whispering sample of a speaker that blends into Franco emotively singing on top of a reappearance of the growls. The middle part sounds so AFI, it's scary. This likeness continues into songs like "Life I Left Behind" and "Cold December," which both have that whole contemplative brooding-to-surging aspect down pat. "Fifteen" is a straightforward, rousing ditty of empowerment ("Live fast! Die young!"), no doubt one of multiple songs inspired by Franco's own history of drug abuse and being out on his own by his middle teens. A lot more of these songs appear in variation, and it's hard to decide whether Aiden love gang vocals or adding midsong movie/talking samples more, as both dot the entire release. Seeing as this album surfaced about a year after they formed, Our Gangs Dark Oath is so surprisingly well put together and accessible that it's really no shock Victory snatched these guys right up. Now all they need is their own identity and Aiden will be set. ~ Corey Apar, All Music Guide
