Screaming Similarities: Dashboard Confessional, 'Alter the Ending'

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DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL main man Chris Carrabba has made a career putting out depressing, lovelorn singles that find their way onto many a sad emo kid's iPod playlist.

But don't be misled by the title of Dashboard's latest, "Alter the Ending" — there's nothing altered, changed or varied about the group's sixth album. Instead, Carrabba sticks to his tried-and-true formula for weep-happy ballads, and 12 tracks later, you're stuck with little more than the same heartache hangover.

Dashboard's two best-known singles are "Screaming Infidelities," which won a Moonman at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, and 2004's "Vindicated," which was featured on the soundtrack for "Spider-Man 2" and was one of the group's highest-ranking songs on the Billboard charts. Carrabba's pained wails on "Screaming Infidelities" seemed genuinely heartfelt, while the up-tempo swagger of "Vindicated" was a solid middle finger to all naysayers — but most of the songs on "Alter the Ending" sound like subpar knockoffs of these.

"Get Me Right" starts things encouragingly, with a Southern rock, almost Conor Oberst-like twang as Carrabba talks about "limping on broken bones" and nursing his "sinner's heart." But he never takes the full plunge and talks about his dog or pick-up truck or anything, but against a stuttering guitar line, Carrabba does bring religion into the equation: "Oh, Jesus, I've fallen / I don't mind the rain if / I meet my maker ... I need my maker / To cure me of the sins I love," he appeals. Although its lyrical delivery is a bit heavy-handed, the song's genre-bending country twang takes it out of strict emo-pop territory — a move that makes it the best track on the album.

The same praise can't be given to any of the disc's other offerings, however, as "Alter the Ending" takes a turn for the worse with the next song, "Until Morning." Immediately noticeable is Carrabba's altering of his voice — while it was crisp and clear in "Get Me Right," he seems to be lowering it a few octaves on "Until Morning," which makes his delivery sound strange, strained and almost guttural. And the change seems especially bizarre when paired with Carrabba's love-and-redemption lyrics, which reach back into his memory to the summer he "crashed [his] motorbike," experienced "little seeds of renovation" and wondered "if this is heaven / or if it's just a warning / say you will stay with me."

Dashboard's familiar acoustic style comes further into play as the album progresses (a road that takes even longer to travel on the deluxe edition, which has non-electric versions of every song). "Everybody Learns From Disaster" has a slower tempo and lyrics about watching "the sun burn down into cinders," and first single "Belle of the Boulevard" is like a modern-day "Roxanne," as Dashboard tackles how "life is always hard" for the prettiest girl with the most hard-knock occupation. Although Carrabba swings toward the inspirational with lines such as "Don't turn away, dry your eyes, dry your eyes / Don't be afraid, or keep it all inside," the song is basically "Vindicated," just from a third-person point-of-view.

On "I Know About You," in which Carrabba calls out his girl for having a "straying heart" and "the stirrings of a double cross," he seems to be channeling early '90s alt-rock group the Gin Blossoms. Specifically, Dashboard's chorus of "And I know about you," is delivered almost exactly like the Gin Blossoms' "Found Out About You," with that same kind of upbeat-sounding, lyrically frustrated pop-rock edge. Just consider Dashboard's version a fraternal (and less-loved) twin.

The proceedings get even duller in the album's second half, as a series of ballads — such as "Blame It on the Changes," "Even Now," "Water and Bridges" and closer "Hell on the Throat" — sound like cookie-cutter renditions of "Screaming Infidelities."

Carrabba says it himself on track "The Motions" — he's going through them; and if you're looking for a risk, "Alter the Ending" is not it.

» Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore, Md.; Chris Carrabba plays solo acoustic, opening for New Found Glory, Sun., Dec. 13; 410-662-0069

Written by Express contributor Roxana Hadadi
Photo courtesy Interscope