Amulet - "Danger! Danger!" (Columbia)
This CD really surprised me, as I was totally ready to hate it from what little I had heard of them before. But lo and behold, it's really not so bad. The music reminds me a lot of older AFI, from back when they were a bit more hardcore and not quite so gothed-out - y'know, uptempo punk/hardcore with just the right amount of pop to gloss things up. As one would expect from a major label record, the recording is excellent, the booklet is thick and full of color and a lot of obvious effort went into putting everything together. Frontman Torgny's vocals are probably the make-or-break point for Amulet, as I've heard quite a few people who are polarized on the issue. He's definitely the weak link of the band in my mind, but at the same time, I don't listen to too much hardcore punk in this style anymore. So yeah - good, not great, but probably worth checking out for fans of the genre regardless.