Hellogoodbye Album: “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!”

I love this CD. I bought it because I had heard "Here in your arms" and "Oh, it is love", but was really surprised when I heard songs on the CD that I loved even more. If you listen to it all the way through it kinds of reads like a love story.

I picked up this CD because I liked its Top 10 track "Here (In Your Arms)." While the rest of the songs aren't quite as good as that one, the album holds together pretty well with a collection of cheerful, upbeat songs that fall somewhere between rock and techno dance-pop.

Although most of the songs are guitar-type numbers, there is a surprisingly little amount of heavy guitar activity in the album. Even the songs that have a lot of guitar in them ("All Time Lows," "Homewrecker") don't feel overdone, like the electric guitar is in the spotlight. The guitars don't dominate, they support. Predominant in many of the tracks is a heavy dose of synthesizers, which, combined with the heavy beats and the cool digital effects sometimes applied to the vocals ("Here In Your Arms," "Touchdown Turnaround"), add a techno feel which is pretty cool.

"Stuck To You" and "Homewrecker" show that Hellogoodbye does a surprisingly good job with upbeat songs in a minor key. One of the middle tracks, "Baby, It's Fact," is musically a little different from the rest of the album, with a strong melody and a sycopated, classic feel which sounds so good that Hellogoodbye would do well to make more songs like it.

The lyrics are mostly lightweight pop love choruses, with a strong twenty-first century emphasis, such as in "I Saw It On Your Keyboard." With the focus on young love and the frequent modern references, Hellogoodbye is a decidedly Gen-Y band. The album doesn't end well, with a confusing "Two Weeks In Hawaii" that departs from the feel of the rest of the album without much success. Another thing that should be a kiss of death is that the album title has nothing whatsoever to do with any of the lyrics.

Bottom line: There's better music out there. "Here (In Your Arms)" and "Baby, It's Fact" were my favorites, and they're probably worth listening to sometime. But, on the whole, the lyrics don't do anything for you, and the music itself, although it's nice, isn't impressive enough to justify buying the CD. You won't be amazed. Unless this is really your style, you could probably just listen to something else.

So.

I've been waiting for this CD for so freaking long and it's finally here.

Most of the songs have been for [illegal] download for a while, just because forrest's laptop got stolen [read in AP] but I would have to say.

every new version is wayyyyy better.

as well as all the other songs.

This CD is defiantly awesome.

It makes me happy, every song is a happy love song.

Go buy it

like five of them

Hellogoodbye are a synth dance/rock act from the US, despite sounding very British, and "Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!" is their full-length debut CD. It came out in the US last August, but only last month in the UK.

Opening cut "All of our love" (which reminds me a bit of UK group Bloc Party) perfectly captures their sound; a synth driven stomper, with vocodered vocals, digital bleeps and tweets, and ultra catchy hooks. In a similar vein are "Here (in your arms") (US top 20, currently in the UK top 5), and "Touchdown Turnaround (Don't Give Up On Me)".

Deviating from this template are straight ahead electro rockers "All time lows", "Stuck to you", "Homewrecker", the frenetic paced, "Figures A And B (Means You And Me)" with pulsing synths, and the sunny electro pop of "I saw it on your keyboard".

The ballad "Two weeks in Hawaii" wouldn't sound out of place on a My Chemical Romance album, with its gentle-to-raging-chorus style.

My favourite track is the Beatles-esque piano driven "Baby it's a fact", a charming midtempo sing-a-long with lovely harmonies, and lead vocalist Forrest Kline declaring puppy love in a charming innocent-like voice.

The UK edition of the album comes with 3 bonus tracks; live versions of "All of our love" and "Baby it's a fact", and the rocker "Shimmy shimmy quarter turn".

This CD is amazing. Very fun...excellent for driving. :) I like them a lot...they're very unique.