Hard-rockin' emo kidz from Orange County, the Confession is at least a little different from most metalcore acts of their time and place, thanks in large part to lead singer and lyricist Taylor Holland Armstrong's clean, well-trained vocal style and the band's taste for old-fashioned lengthy guitar solos out of the '70s hard rock stylebook. Armstrong and the rest of the Confession -- guitarists Kevin Fyfe and Jake Ortiz, bassist Matt Pauling, and drummer Jeff Veta -- hail from the oceanside Los Angeles suburb of Dana Point, where the band formed in 2005 while most of its members were still in high school. While the Confession was playing the local club circuit, local-band-made-good Avenged Sevenfold chose the younger act to be their opening act for an extensive national tour. This led to the Confession getting signed to the Record Collection label, a faux-indie imprint bankrolled by Warner Brothers, which released the young band's hastily recorded debut EP in 2005. After further touring, including a stint on the 2006 Taste of Chaos package tour, Ortiz was replaced by new guitarist Justin Norman. The Confession released their album Requiem, produced by Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows, in June 2007 through Science Records and spent the summer on the Warped Tour. ~ Stewart Mason