Reviews

It's unfortunate for Aiden that the only good thing about Conviction is the album's unique graffiti style artwork. And it's even more unfortunate that talented artist Alex Pardee's (The Used - In Love and Death) name is attached to this disaster of a goth-rock album.

Aiden had a lot riding on this record; the band is known more by its peers because of its name and not its sound and sadly, Conviction is a wasted opportunity for Aiden to change the skeptics' minds. Setting aside the fact that Internet nobody Jeffree Star appears in the video for the first single, "One Love," Conviction is just another legitimate reason to not take this band seriously.

Conviction should have been a five track EP with "One Love," the catchy pop-infused first single, as its one and only shining star. Instead, more than half of Conviction's 11 songs are all dull, skip-worthy fillers.

For example, "The Opening Departure" begins the record off with a somber tone. The piano work is somewhat impressive but it's overshadowed by terrible, cliché lyrics and droning vocals courtesy of lead singer, Wil Francis.

"She Will Love You" starts out with promising dance rock beat mirroring something from a Tiger Army album but fails to ever take off and explode with any sort of energy other than that mustered by mediocre drum beats and stagnant vocals.

"Teenage Queen" is a track in which the lyrics, for better or worse, are the only reason this song may turn out to be a hit; "Oh, tonight I'm a teenage queen." Those are the words destined to become scribbles on adolescent notebooks and Myspace headlines of 14-year-old kids. This track loses itself in the mess of the rest of Conviction, which lacks skill and any form of inventiveness and depth.

Another boring track, "Hurt Me," is a dreadful attempt by Aiden to take itself seriously with its somewhat metaphorical dark lyrics but its melody is dreary and uninspiring.

Francis' vocals on "Son Of Lies" indicate he's in the running to become the next Gerard Way but he only does half the job. The somewhat exciting aspect of this song is that it features Efrem Schulz of Death By Stereo. The song's sing along chorus is kind of fun because it drowns out Francis' vocals, which of course is a good thing.

Conviction is an over packaged, middle of the road goth rock record that falls completely flat towards the end. It's last three songs "Believe," "Bliss," and "The Sky is Falling," sound like tracks AFI decided not to include on their latest record. Conviction is a complete waste of amazing, beautiful artwork done by Alex Pardee, whose work, without a doubt, outshines Aiden's desperate attempt at securing itself as a next big thing. I'd recommend Francis to come out with his own line of jewelry exclusive to Hot Topic customers; it'd sell more than Conviction will.