The Used - "Toxic Positivity"

You could say they're 'used' to it

The Used are an emo band from the 00s. Like, *formed in the year 2000*. I didn’t know they were still producing music, then they just popped up on a list of upcoming albums - and they never stopped producing. This isn’t a comeback of any sort. “Toxic Positivity” (which is a great album name, btw) is just their 9th studio album.

And I kind of expected it to be a flop. But this thing is on the attack from the first chord. The Used bring a lot of energy to their latest effort.

That said, they’ve evolved - this is not the same band that wrote “Let It Bleed”; the lyrics are still dark, but the sound is much more modern. They’ve kept up with trends, and the album isn’t dissimilar to Papa Roach’s release last year; there are definitely some poppy and nu elements at play, though they never hit anything that’s straight up ‘pop’ or ‘metal’. Still, several tracks, including opener “Worst I’ve Ever Been” and “Headspace” go pretty hard at times. “Dancing With A Brick Wall” is just a jam.

But “I Hate Everybody” just doesn’t sit right. It does quirky things that I’ve heard elsewhere, so it feels unoriginal and kinda forced. With that, plus the already short album length (11 songs at 30 minutes), the album doesn’t come out feeling as complete or polished as it initially feels. But it’s good, and good enough for Green. Honestly, it’s just a little bit of effort shy of Blue, but the couple of missteps are just too apparent.

Rating: Green