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Ever wanted to hear how Paint It Black would sound with dumbed-down lyrics and a ton of long, unneccesary breakdowns?

Yeah, me neither.

Okay, so there's a lot wrong with Know the Score's debut full-length, All Time Low. The majority of these 17 songs follow a simple formula: fast and/or heavy intro and verse, guitar fadeout to the bridge, long breakdown that goes absolutely nowhere. Expectedly, this causes the songs to blend together and leave no impression on the listener.

There are some decent things going on here, though you have to listen carefully to hear them. Songs like "$2000 Guarantee" and "Safety in Numbers" are competent hardcore. "Hell or High Water" and "State of Disgrace" are loaded with metal riffing á la Municipal Waste. The brief homages to old-school hardcore and thrash metal in most of these songs are unfortunately just that: brief. Before you know it, the band's ruined a perfectly decent song with another uninteresting breakdown. What's bad is All Time Low has a running time of just over 20 minutes, including a seven-minute closing track with an inexplicable four-minute bout of silence. So in 16 minutes of music there's still a ton of filler and a ton of ideas that never really go anywhere.

Know the Score are a band with potential, if they can just figure out what they want to be. If anything, this record is unapologetically raw and honest, but that's not enough to keep it from being subpar. The fact is, there are literally dozens of bands playing this style of music, and most of them do it better than this. In the future, if they can keep the breakdowns to a minimum (or at least make them interesting) and expand on their hardcore and thrash leanings, they could release a stellar record. Hopefully All Time Low is just that for Know the Score.



People who liked this also liked:
Four Year Strong - Rise or Die TryingNew Found Glory / International Superheroes of Hardcore - Tip of the Iceberg / Takin' It Ova!Barricade - Be HeardKids Like Us - Outta Control



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    Posted by TerribleJ on 2008-11-29 04:45:16
    My Score:

    Horrible....horrible review. This dude doesn't understand. Most of you don't. This CD came out before anyone gave a flying fuck about the band All Time Low, if they were even together. Long story short, these guys don't give a fuck what you think. They're around to spit in your face, and play hardcore music. Its incredibly creative. Best described as raw and to the point. Don't like it because its too short? Don't like it because they aren't drop tuned and play breakdowns(by the way, fuck this whole 'they play so many breakdowns' garbage) Go fuck yourself and listen to parkway drive while you cry and jerk off to Tila Tequila. If you're into them, check out floorpunch, judge, the gorilla biscuits, and go from there. good place to start learning what real hardcore is. KTS has arguably the best hardcore album out to date.

    Posted by mattminds on 2008-07-07 10:02:49

    Posted by Nikral on 2007-03-13 09:47:07

    Isn't All Time Low a band name too? I got confused! Why would you name an album after another band.

    I'm sure KTS is very familiar with, or even gives two fucks about All Time Low the band haha.

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 2:30 PM (EDT)

    very very bad review
    this band is way better than most of the hardcore bands out there

    Posted by Ianw on 2007-03-15 10:19:35

    Why did you refrence Municipal Waste in this lame bands review?!?!?!?!? UNCOOL!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 4:22 PM (EDT)

    an aptly titled album.

    Posted by Scruffy on 2007-03-13 14:49:06

    Man, what's up with bands using words and phrases for band names? I mean, sheesh.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 11:57 AM (EDT)

    straight edge? LOLZ

    Posted by Electrickle on 2007-03-13 11:35:16
    My Score:

    And I bet these guys are straight edge to.

    Posted by Amazingthemike on 2007-03-13 10:37:41
    My Score:

    This review is pretty poor and misinformed. Album is way better than he makes it out to be.

    Posted by Nikral on 2007-03-13 09:47:07

    Isn't All Time Low a band name too? I got confused! Why would you name an album after another band.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 2:52 AM (EDT)

    What's up with the increasing trend of shitty bands using "figures of speech" for either record titles, or the band name itself? Fuck that.

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