Review: Hollywood Undead – American Tragedy

| Apr 04, 2011 | Comments 33 | Tags:

Rated:

4/5

First things first: This is not a heavy-metal record. This is not the next Master of Puppets. This is Hollywood Undead. Deal with it.

For all the crap they seem to get, when evaluated on their own terms, these masked maniacs have put together one hell of an album that will leave fans’ heads buzzing long after the clubs have let out and the hangover sets in. American Tragedy is wildly fun, a head-thumping, booze-chugging, 14 track-long hedonistic binge. The Los Angeles–based rap-rock sextet is relentless in its flows, masterfully mixing tasty beats with catchy choruses and enough distorted guitars to give its songs a gritty, metallic halo. The group’s first album, 2008′s surprise smash Swan Songs, was an impressive mix of tongue-in-cheek rhymes atop bleak, apocalyptic rock-inspired tracks. And Hollywood Undead pick up where they left off with this follow-up, which bounces from start to finish with very few low points. “Been to Hell” is a scorching opener and the album closer, “Tendencies,” is a crushing rap-rock masterpiece. In between, the band experiments a bit  with the more Linkin Park–esque “Levitate” and a disturbingly upbeat song about a man attempting suicide, “Bullet.” “Comin’ In Hot” is a party anthem destined for endless play in clubs. The weaker points in the record are the ballads, “Coming Back Down” and “Pour Me,” but these are easily forgotten among the album’s many undeniably addictive future hits.

In the ironically self-aware “Apologize,” the band proclaims, “We don’t apologize, and that’s just the way it is.” Haters will hate, but that won’t stop the oncoming party riot that is Hollywood Undead. And, really, when it’s this fun, why fight it? JEREMY BORJON


  • Idontknow

    it shouldn’t be 4 star album. the one who rated that is deaf. it should be 6/5 stars

  • COSPERTERESA

    YALL KICK ASS!!! KEEP DOING WHATEVER YALL ARE DOING,,,MAINSTREAM BABY!!! MY SON LUVS YALL HE AND HIS BUDDIES WILL BE AT THE DALLAS 4/20,,,,CONCERT,,,HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD HERE TO STAY TO ROCK YOUR ASSES OFF!!!! LUV IT!!!

  • Antooniooo

    fucking bullshit about Coming Back Down and Pour Me, they are one of the fucking best. Haters will hate is damn right. besides that, i really liked the review.

  • Jmanlight

    Pour me is the best song on the album. wtf is this guy talking about?

  • PurpleRedness

    Why didn’t this guy mention “Light’s Out,” the reply to Deuce’s “Story of a Snitch”?
    Light’s out is bitchin’. So are the rest of their shit.

  • Astrike05

    i like coming back down..

  • Thesuffererandthewitness

    comin back down is AWESOME

  • HOLLYWOODxUNDED

    Pour Me sucks, but Coming Back Down is so sick!!

  • kbg

    I loved HU’s first album. The new album doesn’t do it for me. It sounds like something produced for the record company and to satisfy all the poser fans…and Linkin Park fans. The chorus in every song just sucks! The funny sense of humor on the first album was what drew me in and kept me listening. HU left the funny stuff out on American Tragedy and went serious “emo”. I know there is a market for the new album; it’s just not for the fans of HU’s Swan Songs.

  • Jkidd14

    YESS. Love this. It took a couple days to let it sink in and now I like it A LOTT. Before I wasn’t sure if it was that good, but now it’s really good. I’ll be listening to this for a long time. NICE UNDEAD. KEEP THE UNDEAD ARMY TROOPIN.

  • Lita

    Swan Songs was sooooooooooooooooooo much better! American Tragedy is more slow and they dont swear after every word :( ((((( I miss Deuce even though he let the fame get to his head and was rude to J3T and J-Dog and other stuff. HU doesnt has the same awesome as it did before. I mean in Bullet its like a happy tune even though they are talking about suicide -_- just saying.But Been To Hell was an awesome song :)

    • Supahrank

      The thing with Bullet being happy is that, in my opinion, they were trying to make it sarcastic or ironic. Just because they don’t swear after every other word doesn’t make them a terrible band, it means that they have grown up a bit and realize that they don’t HAVE to swear all the time to sound good.

    • hollywooddead

       the reason is that deuce made the first album. it was his. just compare the songs. it’s so freaking obvious that people who made this one didn’t have anything to do with the first one. and it wasn’t fame that got to his head. they (mainly j3t) got jealous of him getting all the credit, that’s what happened. and don’t worry, deuce has a new album coming out pretty soon. now that his contractual bs because of hu guys is over. they kicked him out and shut him up to boot. i hate these guys now with every rotten fiber of my filthy soul. just check his web page.

  • Scoobylvr45

    yeah i agree! this album is terrible it doesnt even sound like them. So to me its just a huge waste of money

  • HU4L

    clearly none of you are die hard HU fans. Theyre at a different point in their lives so their music is gonna sound different. its amazing that they can create all of that different kind of music, put it on ONE album, and make such an amazing masterpiece is genius.

  • Anonymous

    Hey All Here’s a New Hollywood Undead interview! http://bit.ly/gbUCrH

  • Ross

    Amazing, thats the only word to describe this aldum

    • Ladima

       for some reason most good reviews i see on the new album have the word “amazing”. looks like some ass kisser went and posted shitload of good reviews on this shitty pop album, badly produced, badly written, and which got good sales first week only because of a MONTH of pre-orders. and people saying they different being good just have neither ears nor head. or the head is permanently plugged in their ass. how can a band change so much and be the same band? this is a bunch of bs.

  • BessieTheHellPig

    I don’t like it. Swan Songs was much better. But here is what i have a problem with, how can this magazine give the same rating to a bunch of drunk scene kids with masks and one of the most technical and well put together albums i have ever heard (Obscura’s new album). I just dont understand what anybody can see that is good in the commercialization of modern music.

    • Matthew

      easy, the drunk kids are just as good as one of the most technical and well put together albums you’ve heard.

  • HU LOVER

    I absolutely love HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD and i think that there music is very good. I think that American Tragedy is what will take them to the top.

  • Dsfs

    CHARLIE SCENE FTW!

  • Weenie I love to Show

    swan songs was AWESOME….. but american tragedy isn’t too bad either… why did they have to kick out deuce tho?

  • Weenie I love to Show

    swan songs was AWESOME….. but american tragedy isn’t too bad either… why did they have to kick out deuce tho?

  • Moshabrady

    I loved this piece. Great work Jeremy!
    I am a huge fan of H.U. You could not have wrote this any better! 

  • hufan

    thats bs hu is nothing with out deuce. there is a reason in the beging of when we ride he says u ever hear about this fuck boy danie fucking american idol regect 

    • Morgan

      -facepalm- If I hear one more
      god damned bitch or complaint about “Deuce was better” or “They’re
      nothing without Deuce!” I am going to track that person down and kick
      their ass personally. Shut the fuck up, get over it, it’s been two
      fucking years.

      A Like Reply
       

  • HU4L

    Theres no other way to descibe Amercain Tradedy other than, Jermey- THANK YOU!! You made it impossible to top the reviewing of HU’s new ablum.And thank you again.
    HU4L!

  • Deuce is dead

    -facepalm- If I hear one more god damned bitch or complaint about “Deuce was better” or “They’re nothing without Deuce!” I am going to track that person down and kick their ass personally. Shut the fuck up, get over it, it’s been two fucking years.

  • Metal4Evr

    I listen to this album a few times a week and I personally think thier old stuff is better but thier new stuff is good too like I usually listen to it when im playing Black Ops,

  • James

    Thought it sucked.

  • Tp4gators_92

    great album, their record label didnt give them full creative control over it thats why it sounded different than Swan Songs, they stated the third album will be lik their first with plenty of party songs. p.s haters will hate, drop the deuce crap cause its old news.

  • Grieving

    A little boy who had cognitive difficulties was very artistic. Every band that had masks, he made wonderfully creative replicas. He’d get an idea in his head and agonize over every detail. His work was beautiful. I have masks from several groups.
    Depression, however, was a problem. He talked of suicide, not really understanding it. He talked of killing himself in the middle of a week but finished the sentence by discussing his weekend plans.
    One day on YouTube he discovered Hollywood Undead. He also learned of the song, “Bullet.” It was catchy. His therapist warned him that it was really dangerous for him to get into it. His parents had several talks with him about it. The problem was if he got an idea in his head, he would obsess about it. He wanted to make a mask, he would have to go out and immediately buy the materials, stay up well into the night. He tried to plaster a clear plastic face, kind of like one you’d get at a Halloween store. The mask would have been much like Hollywood Undead’s hockey-style masks.
    A few weeks ago, his moods started to swing. Not really sure exactly what happened. Could have been many factors. Then one day a friend was at his house and the friend called up the “Bullet” video on YouTube, because the tune was catchy. The friend had been warned that the song was not to be played in the house, but 14-year-old boys sometimes disobey.
    That night he discussed plans for the next day and the next few weeks.
    Very catchy tune. Critically acclaimed, it appears.
    That night this wonderful young man committed suicide in his room.
    Who knows what role the song played in the action? But we’re talking about a brain that struggled with many concepts. Suicide presented happy and catchy could certainly have been interpreted as happy and catchy.
    Forgive this grieving father for not having any interest in “the oncoming party riot.” Certainly, some narrow folks will dismiss this comment as being presented by a ”hater,” or try to blame my son, using a logic that he struggled to possess. Maybe someone lacking humanity will claim the band’s success trumps one dead child.
    I only hope it’s not more than one. But I know this: it was one too many.