Another year, another
Take Action! compilation. The fight against suicide will, unfortunately, never be over, so it's at least nice to see charitable people like those at
Hopeless and
Sub City consistently doing their part to raise awareness on the subject and provide resources for those in need. To do so, they've rounded up another diverse collection of songs spanning
punk,
emo and
indie rock in the early 21st century, drawing listeners in with tracks from old favorites alongside the ripe opportunity to discover new loves. A PSA from
the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus opens
Vol. 6's first disc (
Rise Against handles disc two's intro). The music then launches forth with
My Chemical Romance's dramatic
"This Is How I Disappear," followed with strong showings by
Senses Fail (
"Calling All Cars"),
Paramore (the sweetly urgent
"Emergency") and the sisterly, slightly haunting
pop/rock of
Meg & Dia's
"Monster." Even
All Time Low's quintessential
pop-
punk (
"Coffee Shop Soundtrack") is a good time. The disc's early melody eventually drops into much heavier terrain, ending with cuts from
metal and
hardcore acts like
Drop Dead, Gorgeous,
In Flames,
Into Eternity, and
Misery Signals. The stronger of the two discs, the second offers up excellent tracks from relative
punk veterans like
Rise Against,
the Casualties, and
Anti-Flag, and it's actually kind of funny, the placement of
No Trigger's
"Bust Tropical" right before
Strike Anywhere's heartfelt
"Instinct," because for second, you'd swear they were the same band.
The Falcon and
Heavens carry the flag for well-done side projects (of
the Lawrence Arms/
Alkaline Trio and
Alkaline Trio, respectively).
Indie pop shines with songs by
the Hush Sound (
"Wine Red"),
Lakes (
"Indian Lover") and
Copeland (
"Control Freak"), while
Damiera lends the vaguely
Coheed-esque
"Via Invested" and
These Arms Are Snakes' snotty
"Horse Girl" goes down with a nice chaotic punch. With partial proceeds going to charity,
Take Action! compilations have always been great investments (and small ones at that with price tags under $10). And with this year's bonus DVD of practically 30 music videos to go along --
Emery,
Hellogoodbye,
Converge,
Murder by Death and
Set Your Goals among contributors -- there's really no easier way to help a great cause and sample some great new music at the same time. ~ Corey Apar