Scary Kids Scaring Kids - The City Sleeps in Flames

I'm not sure what to think of Scary Kids Scaring Kids. I'll take a wild guess and say that the name comes from a Cap'n Jazz song, and that's the only similarity between the two to be found. The first thing that really jumps out at me though is that this band really doesn't seem to stand out above the rest of this wave of "screamo/emo/post-adolescent rage" bands (or whatever the hell you care to call them) that have taken over for pop-punk as the top choice for "rebellious" high-schoolers across the nation. And when I say that, I'm talking about songwriting; with this band, that part isn't all that strong. However, the guitar work is quite excellent, though it doesn't redeem the band's failure to take on a style of their own. Whiny, mediocre vocals (that sound like Armor for Sleep or Mae) over psuedo-metal riffing isn't my idea of a good time. But, unfortunately it's become a formula used time and time again and Scary Kids Scaring Kids does a better job than most. Then again, that really doesn't make The City Sleeps in Flames worth purchasing, or even hearing, as far as I'm concerned unless you're a huge fan of Underoath or any of the countless bands that their success spawned. Even the song titles scream "generic," ("My Darkest Hour," "Faith in the Knife," "The Bright Side of Suffering"), and it's just too hard to overlook all the crap on top to really bother digging deep to find something worthwhile here. [www.scarykids.com]