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Taken

And They Slept (2001)
Goodfellow Records

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Contributed by: TheSunHasSetOnEmo20
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on August 13th 2002

Like most individuals my taste in music has evolved with my age. At a very young age back in 1992-1994, I became swept by the 'grunge' scene, later my spirits were captured by what I will label (disdainfully) New Punk. For a long time now I have been emotionally drawn to indie rock or what most would call ‘emo’, not to come off as totally cliché but it’s the aging. In this day and age the term ‘emo’ is loosely thrown around to pretty much define any post-hardcore indie rock band that has/will produce a CD. I would consider my self anything but a trend setter, however more than that… I hate to be trendy. I’m not one of those people who define themselves by their music or through their clothes, but one thing about trends is that they end. And fellow listeners, the sun has set on emo. It’s the new trend, its popular, and its ‘sweeping the continent’. Must I cite new pop classics like Jimmy Eat World – The Middle? Moving on, this new trend has left me feeling rather empty, so about a year ago I began to dabble in hardcore, post-hardcore… whatever you want to label it. Unbelievably more talented than ‘new metal’, way less cock than cock-rock, and lyrics that would draw a tear as quick as any Pedro The Lion song.

Now that we’re up to speed on ‘post-hardcore’, this brings me to the band TAKEN. Taken hails from Orange County, CA, and has been on the scene since 1997. A friend of mine gave me Taken’s new LP And They Slept. I would like to think I am a man of discriminating musical taste, so when I say that And They Slept is one of the best collections of songs I have ever heard, I mean this is one freaking fantastic LP. The band’s vocalist screams with a sincerity and sense of desperation that seems to tug at the listener’s soul, following that up with one of the most original melodic styles I have ever heard on a hardcore cd. The guitar work and drums…. astonishing… I could continue to talk this band up, but none will be able to comprehend until they listen to the disc for themselves. And They Slept opens up strong with the powerful track ‘Never An Answer’, which sets the mood very well. Taken brings the CD to an ultra sad note with ‘Beauty In Dead Flowers’, a super ‘emo’ piano track, and even brings hardcore to a new level with a clap track on song 7 ‘Overused History’ giving the song an upbeat almost (I)NC feel. I ask all indie rock (emo), post-hardcore or hardcore listeners to go out and get Taken - And They Slept. There is something out there for those of us who now find it hard to identify with the “emo” scene, and it’s TAKEN.

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etwiels88 (November 8, 2005)

Incredible band.

Rap is equivelant to swallowing your own semen. Some people are into that sort of thing, but for any sane minded person, it's just gay, dude.

Anonymous (May 10, 2004)

Rap ruuuuuuuuuuuuuulllleeeeessss motherfuckers suck it bitches

Anonymous (May 10, 2004)

No go suck on 50 cents dick biatch

Anonymous (May 10, 2004)

taken fucking sux dick and rap rules.
rock suxs

Anonymous (May 3, 2004)

This band sucks donkey dick ive never heard anything that required no talent and had people actually like it what the fuck are they talking about in there songs? a whole lot of nothing because there mom probably wrote this shit for them they have no talent and deserve to die a horrible death... GOOD CHARLOTTE RULES!

GYBE (May 3, 2004)

They have three shows left. Two in O.C. and one, luckily for me, in Hamilton, Ontario.

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

this band is incredibly talented, too bad they are over with. so much potential. check out the song "arrested impulse", an unreleased demo available at lambgoat. fucking unreal.

GYBE (April 17, 2004)

Whoever did this rules.

Anonymous (April 16, 2004)

i cant believe that some fag with no time on his hands replaced refused with such a shitty band

Anonymous (April 12, 2004)

Someone take the hits off this joke...

-c22

Anonymous (April 12, 2004)

someone had fun with the reload key.

notaclevername (April 11, 2004)

uhh..."i see beauty in dead flowers"... that's an In Flames lyric from "Another Day in Quicksand" (Clayman-2000)
not saying they're "posers" or anything, just sayin', is all

tgarn (August 17, 2002)

Could we knock off the swearing? Those number symbols are pretty annoying. So just knock that ####### ##### ass #### off before I get ####

Anonymous (August 16, 2002)

not hardcore

Anonymous (August 15, 2002)

these guys are simply amazing. check them out!

-porkpie

Anonymous (August 14, 2002)

I was kinda hoping perhaps that the sun had set on other trendy things like labelling everything emo and then saying you hate it. Don't worry folks. I got enough tweezers for all of us. We can pick the slivers out of our asses from jumping on the hating bandwagon again. Those of you that have been around since the pop-punk hating phase of last week, well, you might have your work cut out for you. But don't fret, we're all in this together.

Anonymous (August 13, 2002)

super good music, super good guys

A-Season-of-Shrubs (August 13, 2002)

Their EP is great, but this "sun setting on emo shit" needs to take a break. Who cares if its famous? There's always good music to be found. fuck man, fuck

Anonymous (August 13, 2002)

Taken are amazing...the new drummer is outstanding, and he's only frickin 17!!!

check out their previous good fellow release the Finding Solace in Discension EP IT's as good if not better