Reviews

I've always been a big fan of the "Hopelessly Devoted To You" compilations not only because of their affordability, but because they put together such interesting lineup of bands and blend so many genres together, it's just always an experience to listen to them. Volume four came out quite a while ago, but it was great because it combined The Weakerthans with Mustard Plug and then Aveneged Sevenfold.  It also had more than one song from many of the bands, which is nice for people who are hearing the band for the first time and want to get another listen. Volume five is no different, only a bit shorter and with less variety. Okay so maybe it's very different. Opening the comp. with Melee's "New Day" was a good idea because it's a band that hasn't really gotten too far yet, but has a lot of serious potential. I'm not a fan of Amber Pacific, who were the followup to that song. They tend to give me a headache when I've heard too much of them, which is one song. Thrice, Break The Silence and Aveneged Sevenfold break come in next, ripping out some breakdowns and a little mosh. I could care less about Against All Authority's "Wet Foot Policy," and rather moved right on to former Operation Ivy frontman Jesse Michael's new project, Common Rider. Of course nothing can ever top Op Ivy, but it's always interesting to see what Michaels does with his musicianship nowadays. Yet again, Amber Pacific feels the need to jump in a ruin a good thing with their song "Leaving What You Wanted," which is nothing short of a painstaking emo song.  Break The Silence picks up the slack again and turns my frown upside down with "The Likes Of Me." The last two songs are live tracks, one from Aveneged Sevenfold which happens to be previously unreleased and one from Atom and His Package, someone we haven't heard from in a while. As with almost every album nowadays, there's a bonus cd rom with videos from Thrice and Avenged Sevenfold. Honestly, by the time I got through it, I was sick and tired of Avenged Sevenfold. Three times is not charming on a compilation. Volumes three and four were hopelessly better than this one, but for less than $4.00, who can resist? For that low of a price, it'd be ridiculous not to grab a copy, especially if you're a Hopeless Records fan.