Back in the glory days of when emo ruled the roost within rock music, there was perhaps a genuine case to be made that THE USED were on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands around, alongside compatriots MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, thanks to a brilliant run of early albums like their self-titled debut, seminal classic In Love And Death and Lies For The Liars. Despite this, the band never quite managed to hit nor maintain those heights, but have since soldiered on, backed by a hugely dedicated fanbase, releasing a string of much-loved albums and are now on the cusp of their eighth full-length, Heartwork.

Opening on a slinky guitar riff and emotionally-charged vocal, wordy first track Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton pretty much immediately sets out THE USED’s action plan on Heartwork, with an instantaneous earworm of a hook you can’t help but imagine will go off in a live environment. Reuniting with longtime producer and modern-rock production titan John Feldman, the band are clearly very much at home in cranking out these huge anthemic tracks, which makes it all the more surprising when you discover what’s to come.

Big, Wanna Be meanwhile, takes a massive left-turn from riffing, bringing in a more sparse and synth-like electronic vibe in place of conventional distortion for a an incredibly pop-oriented song that’s certainly got more of a playing-for-mainstream-radio vibe. McCracken’s vocal performance is really pushed to the forefront here, and his impassioned delivery just about manages to elevate an oddly somewhat bland musical canvas into a passable song, but it’s certainly a lot more IMAGINE DRAGONS at their most pedestrian than In Love And Death. In fact, the prominent use of electronics is perhaps the largest factor at play in Heartwork’s sound, and not particularly to its’ benefit. Whilst certain tracks like Wow, I Hate This Song ironically almost get the balance right, for every classically THE USED rock-oriented track like Bloody Nose, there’s seemingly an electronic-based counterpart of far lesser quality, from the almost-BILLIE EILISH-aping leanings of Cathedral Bell, to the frankly bizarre bad-nightclub-feeling stomp of Clean Cut Heals, or worst offenders, the utterly pointless interlude tracks My Cocoon and Heartwork. Even closing track To Feel Something brings a conclusion to the record in a somewhat confusing manner too, a rather limp sparsely-arranged ballad that ends things on a bit of a damp squib – always seeming on the verge of some kind of explosion, but simply never bothering, before concluding on a light influx of feedback.

Where Heartwork is most likely to draw in the most new, non-diehard ears to THE USED’s sound however, is in its’ stellar supporting cast of guest appearances. Second track Blow Me brings in FEVER 333 and former LETLIVE front man Jason Aalon Butler to lend an incendiary blast of caustic streams to the punchy riffs and towering choruses set out by McCracken and co. resulting in one of Heartwork’s most fist-pumping highlights. The Lighthouse and Obvious Blasé meanwhile see BLINK-182 stalwarts Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker respectively stepping up to the plate with incredibly mixed results. The former sees the electronic elements once again ramped up to the extreme accompanying a funk-oriented bass-line and a fairly solid if unremarkable pop chorus, while the latter falls into a far more standard Feldman-esque pop-rock single format, albeit it with a touch more power via the use of Barker’s considerable talents. Elsewhere, The Lottery sees BEARTOOTH main man Caleb Shomo turn up for another welcome return to heaviness, his throat-shredding performance breathing life back into a record that, by this point, arguably starts to run out of steam as it stumbles toward a conclusion. Darkness Bleeds provides fans of the band’s heavier work one last blast of excitement, with some solid riffing from newest recruit Joey Bradford on his studio debut with the band, before the aforementioned To Feel Something concludes the record.

Despite a smattering of incredibly strong tracks throughout its’ runtime, and undeniably strong performances from every band member, Heartwork nonetheless unfortunately falls short of THE USED’s incredible legacy, thanks to a somewhat muddled musical canvas featuring a touch too much experimentation that doesn’t really land with the impact the band probably believe it does. There’s nothing outright diabolical on display here, and tracks like Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton and Blow Me are sure to fit in well to the band’s live sets, but on the whole, this is a far cry from the excitement of those earlier records.

Rating: 6/10

Heartwork is set for release April 24th via Big Noise / Hassle Records.

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