“Everybody take off your shirts and throw them onstage, so we can all be equal!” says a senseless Craig Owens, lead singer from Chiodos, to several thousands of fans in the 2007 Vans Warped Tour.

He continues to ramble nonsense and say phrases beyond absurd such as “they can’t stop us from smoking marijuana!” and “everybody start hardcore dancing!” The pleased crowds follow his meaningless words like it’s profound gospel.

However, little do they know that Craig Owens continuously repeats these same phrases on every single stage throughout every single city that the 2007 Warped Tour hit. Spontaneity doesn’t come well with Chiodos in regards to their extremely calculated stage presence.

However, their just-released CD, “Bone Palace Ballet,” is disastrously different, where seemingly tone-deaf Craig Owens attempts, but fails, to belt out his lyrics while overly-clichéd guitar riffs accompany him. Craig Owens doesn’t sing in the songs, he wails off-key. I have been anticipating a new Chiodos album since their last debut released and now I feel betrayed because this wasn’t what I had expected at all.

Chiodos consists of Craig Owens, vocalist, Radley Bell on keyboards, Pat McManaman, on rhythm guitar, Matt Goddard, on bass guitar, Jason Hale, lead guitarist, and Derrick Frost, on drums. This screamo sextet from Michigan is a generally well-known underground band and one of the main attractions in the 2007 Vans Warped Tour. They climbed the underground charts with the release of their debut album, Alls Well That Ends Well.

The “Bone Palace Ballet” is the second album. Ballet features guest bands such as The Number 12 Looks Like You and Underminded. It certainly shows a softer, more melodic side of this band that gets more classical as a result of the greater utilization of the piano that carries most of the tracks. This new album strays away from their old, tried-and-true, Screamo roots and heads to something more unfavorably melodic, jazzy, and vocalized with less screaming and less breakdowns.

Owens’ whiny, high-pitched voice doesn’t make for good vocals and grates on the ears. I enjoyed only three songs out of this surprisingly boring 10-track album, as opposed to their edgy debut album that I couldn’t put down for months. “Teeth the Size of Piano Keys” is one of the few good songs where the band stays true to their old sound and Owens starts screaming, once again.

The less chaotic, more harmonious Chiodos has failed to please in this new album. If you’re a fan of this band, I suggest you not waste the time or money on this disappointing album. This is for the fans of mediocre, overrated bands like, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. If you enjoy listening to off-key vocalists, then definitely buy this album. I give this album three stars out of five.