Love Kills

Album Review

Seemingly many moons ago, there was a time when it was quite common for rock & roll bands to possess danceable beats in their songs. But somewhere along the way, most rockers have opted to stick strictly to the rock. Come 2009, the Cleveland-based quartet Thisisashakedown! have issued their debut album, Love Kills, which manages to break away from stylistic confines and is equal parts rock and dance, just like the good ol' days. They manage to keep it sounding modern throughout, though, with keys and electroids providing a major part to most of the tracks, while Brandon Zano's vocals are straight out of mainstream modern pop/rock radio — cases in point being such tracks as the album opener, "Circles," the title track, and "Comeandcutmyheartout" (between the spelling of the latter song title and the group's name, it seems that the bandmembers' grade-school teachers didn't teach them about the wonders of separating words). Overall, Love Kills is certainly a worthwhile musical experiment that should please admirers of modern-day electro-pop — with a slightly harder edge.