The Used are Back with their Twenty Seven Track Epic, Heartwork (Deluxe)

The Used release Deluxe edition of Heartwork

Photo Credit: Brian Cox

In early 2020, The Used released their eighth album Heartwork which reached #11 on the Billboard US Rock Chart. Now the band is back with a 27-track edition Heartwork (Deluxe) that includes an additional 11 songs that didn’t make the cut on the initial album. It reunites the band with John Feldman who produced five of the band’s previous albums including their debut The Used in 2002. Several guest musical artists make appearances on the album including Jason Aalon Butler (Fever 333) on “Blow Me”; Mark Hoppus (blink-182) on “The Lighthouse”; Travis Barker (blink-182) on “Obvious Blasé”; and Caleb Shomo (Beartooth) on “The Lottery”.

I usually leave coverage of bigger artists to the likes of Rolling Stone, Kerrang, Revolver, Loudwire, et al and instead tend to champion and promote lesser-known artists. However, when I was approached about reviewing Heartwork I was intrigued. Admittedly I am a huge My Chemical Romance fan but surprisingly have not listened much to The Used. There are posts all over social media where people always debate MCR vs The Used, similar to the ‘60s when there was The Beatles vs Rolling Stones debate. I figured reviewing this album would give me some exposure to the band, which will coincidently be performing at the Rebel Rock music festival in Orlando later this week which I will be covering (Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for a review Rebel Rock which should include The Used).

Something that always interests me about a band is how they change over time. There are some bands that remain stagnate and sound the same after 10 or 15 years, while others tend to evolve lyrically and sonically. The last album recorded by The Used was the critically acclaimed The Canyon (2017) which was produced by Russ Robinson. The album took the band in a different direction both lyrically and with their sound. It was recorded on analog equipment and was the band’s most experimental album. It was their Sgt Pepper.

While The Canyon was the band’s most creative album, Heartwork (Deluxe), with John Feldman producing, brings The Used back to the sound that fans are more accustomed to hearing. The Used has been classified as post-hardcore, emo, screamo, punk rock, rock, pop punk, and alt rock, but like a lot of bands, they don’t like being lumped into one genre. They see themselves as just a rock band which is appropriate because their music spans all these different rock genres. Heartwork (Deluxe) is a diverse album containing elements from all these genres.

Lead vocalist Bert McCracken being an avid reader incorporated some of his favorite literary works into Heartwork (Deluxe). “Paradise Lost, A Poem by John Milton”, “1984 (Infinite Jest)”, “Gravity’s Rainbow”, and “The Brothers Karamazov” are songs whose titles derive from classic novels of the same name. McCracken takes themes from these novels and weaves them into his lyrics, placing them in a contemporary and personal setting. “Paradise Lost, A Poem by John Milton” is the album’s best song with an infectious chorus and guitar solo that will invade your brain. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs.

Speaking of the album’s literary references McCracken says: “Yeah, the connection to the world of books that I live in is the most exciting thing for me about the last couple of records. I’ve been able to take whatever I’m really loving at the time and kind of force it into the songs [laughs]. On this record, there’s two songs that contain all three of my favorite books: Gravity’s Rainbow, 1984, and Infinite Jest. These books are such a part of my subconscious. Also, this is the first record where we’ve taken an “all-in” approach to writing the lyrics. We wrote them all in a room, together. Feldmann has a really keen ability to kind of capture the simplest form of something and I’m terrible at that. I sometimes try to make it more complicated, because I think it feels more artistic. But I’m not always right. And I definitely don’t know the most. It was nice writing with everyone this time. It was really refreshing.”

Even without the additional 11 tracks on the deluxe edition, Heartwork (Deluxe) was already a relatively long album coming in at 46 minutes. The added songs stretch the total length to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Many artists struggle to fill an album with only 30 minutes of music, but The Used was able to produce an album with 27 songs, any of which most bands would jump at to record. Long albums like this can sometimes get diluted with weak tracks, but I found myself engrossed in it to the point that I effortlessly listened to the album multiple times. From the first track “Paradise Lost, A Poem by John Milton” to the last “See You in Hell”, there are no tracks to skip past on this album.

A couple of years ago I wrote an article entitled “My Discovery of My Chemical Romance 15 Years After the Rest of the World.” After this review I could now write a similar one called “How I Discovered The Used 20 years After the Rest of the World.” This album has undeniably peaked my interest in the band which should certainly make it appealing for existing fans of The Used or other people like myself who have been living in a vacuum for two decades. Being a lover of classical literature myself, I also hope that some album listeners will get intrigued by some of the titles and check out the related novels.

For more information on The Used, please visit:
Website: www.TheUsed.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheUsed
Twitter: twitter.com/WeAreTheUsed
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theused/

Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

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