by Rick Anderson

The Phoenix-based sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids manage better than most of their aggro-melodic peers to balance gracefully the aggro and the melodic. Don't look for much melody from vocalist Tyson Stevens -- he sings in tune and he's got a strong, clear voice, but he spends as much time yelling as he does actually singing. Sometimes the transition back and forth between the two is highly effective in and of itself, as on the impressive title track and "My Darkest Hour." And sometimes the yelling comes across as kind of rote and half-hearted, as if he's realizing that he hasn't screamed for a few choruses and it's time to do it again before the mosh kids get restless. Most of the melodic interest comes with the formidable twin guitar attack of Steve Kirby and Chad Crawford and the tasteful contributions of keyboardist (!) Pouyan Afkary. Lyrically, these guys are far from embarrassing -- and in this genre, that's relatively high praise. The songs often have a fairly clear referent (such as the World Trade Center, which is referred to unambiguously in "City Sleeps in Flames") and are generally pretty low on tired cliché. Overall, this is an impressive full-length debut from a band that is likely to make even more and better noise in the near future.