Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending (2009)

Review By Jamie Kirk

Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional is the fan girl appointed God of Emo (or whatever they are calling it these days). With his pretty boy good looks, a voice that deftly moves from delicate to full bodied and earnest lyrics about love and loss he can make most swoon the minute he picks up his guitar.

After the return to his acoustic roots with his last album "Shade of Poison Trees", Carrabba has brought back his full band sound with the help of producer Butch Walker.

For all intents and purposes, "Alter the Ending" sounds like a Dashboard Confessional album. Anyone at all familiar with them will know what to expect. That means mid tempo arena rockers with large hooks that showcase Carrabba’s breathy voice and romantic lyrics.

"Alter the Ending" only slightly plays with the formula that brought them such success.

The opener Get Me Right focuses on struggles with faith. It becomes apparent that Carrabba has matured his song writing approach and is willing to deal with deeper themes than girls and break ups.

The next track delves deeper still, as Carrabba chronicles his sisters car crash, which left her in a coma. Lyrically this is one of the best tracks on the album, showcasing the matured song writing. By the first single Belle of the Boulevard things have reverted back to formula, as the tale of a put upon girl is recounted rather boringly over big choruses. Later tracks see Dashboard Confessional playing around with the formula to varying degrees of success.

The Motions is full on synth pop and seems a little jarring, which reveals one of the more pressing problems with "Alter the Ending". Carrabba seems to be at his best when his lyrics and vocals dictate the song, not the other way around.

As the album ends things pick up again and show Dashboard Confessional at their best, a full band that compliments the lyrics instead of overshadowing them.

Alter the Ending ends up being a bit of a polarizing work. On one hand it shows Carrabba exploring new subjects and finds him improving lyrically. Yet on the other hand much of the album is over produced and doesn’t give the lyrics a chance to shine.

Dashboard Confessional can work with a full band, tracks like Hands Down, and Vindicated prove that. Yet the fact that "Alter the Ending" works best when it is at its most stripped down shows that the band haven’t quite figured out how to combine all the elements into one cohesive work.

"Alter the Ending" is still an album worth listening to, and has enough decent tracks to keep fans entertained.

RATING: 3 out of 5

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