Record Label: Victory Records
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Victory Records describes Aiden as a combination of My Chemical Romance and AFI; however, their latest album classifies them as a blatant My Chemical Romance rip off, and makes that statement a huge insult to AFI. The follow up to their debut full length, “Our Gang’s Dark Oath”, their latest release “Nightmare Anatomy” was released less than a year after the band signed to Victory in December 2004. Aiden terms themselves “horror rock”, but they can easily fit the mold of any of Victory’s recent acquisitions. A few years ago, this would have been a compliment when Victory was home to diverse and interesting bands, although lately, the label has a habit of continuing to sign every generic screamo/hardcore wanna be band it comes across.

The album is appropriately named considering that a “nightmare” is the common theme of almost every song, as it is repeated indefinitely throughout the record. Also, when looking at the album as a whole, a terrible nightmare is most certainly the first thing that comes to mind. It is obvious that lyrics are not Aiden’s strong suit with brash gems such as “This nightmare won’t last long/Are you scared? /So sing this song” and, “I know that now I missed the boat and helped in cutting my own throat”. If that was not bad enough, the tracks are filled with gratuitous screaming for no reason counteracted by irritating whines from vocalist “wiL”. Incoherent melodies that simply do not belong together are also prevalent throughout the record. Overall, the album is sophomoric and lacks an ounce of originality. While it is true one cannot judge a book by its cover, when that book is strikingly identical to My Chemical Romance, feel free to assume that which will follow will not be pleasant.

Bottom Line: This train wreck doesn’t even deserve one star
Notable Tracks: The Last Sunrise – It’s terrible, but every time it is heard by accident, it will undoubtedly get stuck in your head.
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