Take Action, Vol. 3
is a double-disc set put together by
Sub City Records
to help financially further suicide prevention and the National Hopeline Network in particular. The 43 bands involved each donated a song from a recent album or EP to the compilation. The music mostly falls under the category of modern aggressive
guitar rock
:
emo
, screamo,
alt-metal
,
punk-pop
, neo-
hardcore
-- you name it and you'll find a representative band here. There are a couple of exceptions to the loud, fast, and angst-ridden sounds that dominate the two discs; the second disc includes the
power pop
of
Brendan Benson
, the art
Cursive
, and the sweet
indie rock
the Jealous Sound
. In fact, the entire second disc focuses on the softer side of modern
punk
, featuring bands like
Elliott
and
the Jazz June
, which soften the edges of their sound with poppy textures, and bands like
Yellowcard
Jupiter Sunrise
, which scale back the sonic assault and rely on anguished vocals to carry the day. Fans of the modern sound will find much to like here, standouts being
Thursday
's howling
"For the Workforce, Drowning,"
Good Riddance
's
"More DePalma, Less Fellini,"
the Ataris
' poppy
"A Beautiful Mistake"
(taken from the Japanese release of
So Long Astoria
), and
Division of Laura Lee
's ominous
"Black City,"
and may discover a few new favorites as well. ~ Tim Sendra