The Used’s Lies for the Liars

The Used, a four-person band from the nowhere town of Orem, Utah (a town with few other claims to fame–it lists as some of its noteworthy attractions Applebee’s and Circuit City), released their third album, entitled Lies for the Liars, on May 22, 2007. The album is a lot like their two earlier releases: fast, urgent guitar lines; enough screaming to make the album reek of emotional overload without grating too much on the ears; lyrics that reinforce emotional charge of the vocals.

It’s perhaps not the greatest album to ever hit shelves, but it could very well be the greatest album so far released by The Used. When I saw it live a few years ago (after the release of their first, self-titled album), The Used, although it was the headliner of the tour, played a 25 minute set. After the six or so songs that the band played, vocalist Bert McCracken could barely manage to squeeze out a farewell to the crowd out of his exhausted vocal chords. Their second album, In Love and Death, attempted to remedy this problem, by adding to the band’s repetoire a number of songs that were without the signature screaming that so limited the band’s ability to deliver a long set.

Lies for the Liars is a good compromise between the first, almost-entirely-screamed album, and the second, tamer release. Musically, the album follows well after the first two. The guitar and bass lines are consistent with earlier recordings. The drums not overwhelming, but still add energy to the tracks.

My favorite part of the album, though, are the lyrics.

For example, consider “The Bird and the Worm”, about a school boy trying to establish his place in the world, but being constantly attacked by the judgment of his peers:
“He wears his heart safety-pinned to his backpack/His backpack is all that he knows/Shot down by strangers whose glances can cripple/The heart and devour the soul/All alone he turns to stone/While holding his breath half to death/Terrified of what’s inside/To save his life/He crawls like a Worm from a Bird.” The backpack detail provides a humbling picture of the persona in the song, not only establishing him as youthful and suggesting at his innocence, but also implying his relative isolation from the rest of the world since his backpack is “all that he knows.”

Here’s another good one: “This feeling never leaves you alone/You pull the trigger on your own/You’re hiding in your safe place/Hiding with your eyes shut tightly/All the way to the hospital.” This one is quote typical of the band: a song about the hopelessness of life. The image of guns and pulled triggers is another common thread that runs through songs by The Used. While staying true to one of its favorite motifs, the band also introduces an element of psychology into the lyrics of this song (entitled “Hospital”).

All in all, Lies for the Liars is true to the reputation the band has built for itself. But the lyrics of this album add an extra depth that was lacking in much of their earlier stuff.