Trainwreck

A Canadian emo band known for songs with long-winded titles such as "The Subtleties That Make Mass Murderers Out of Otherwise Decent Human Beings," Boys Night Out is clearly up to something different on 2005's TRAINWRECK, which exclusively features one-word track titles ("Dreaming," "Purging," "Healing," etc.). It turns out that the lads have whipped up a concept album complete with prog-rock leanings, marking a notable leap forward from their past "screamo" releases. Here, the songs follow the life of a catatonic character, from the scene-setting, spoken-word "Introducing" to the harmony-laden "Waking" to the anthemic "Relapsing" and beyond. Although frontman Connor Lovat-Fraser is still prone to abrupt bursts of shouting, most of his vocals are melodic and energetic, reflecting the guitar-heavy (and sometimes complex) tunes on offer. It seems that every generation of rock needs a few concept records, and, with TRAINWRECK, Boys Night Out have made a distinctive emo-core contribution to that tradition.