[.ca] Haunted Cities (Ltd. ed.)

surprisingly effective:
The debut album from the Transplants was something I enjoyed, but was never something I could really get into, mainly because (for me) there were too many throw away songs. When Haunted Cities came out, I bought it that day expecting much of the same, but what I got was something much better than I expected. This album is better in several ways. 1) Tim Armstrong's vocals are featured more often and sound a lot better. 2) Rob Aston's vocals are WAY better, and unlike with their debut, I actually look forward to Aston's vocal parts. 3) The song writing has greatly improved and I would only say there's two songs that I would consider to be throw aways (those being Killafornia and Pay any Price). I don't care much for the two heavily hip-hop based songs (What I Can't Describe and Crash and Burn), but they are part of who the Transplants are and therefore I consider them to be valuable parts of the album. Highlights of this album include Not today, Gangsters and Thugs, Doomsday, American Guns, Madness, Hit the Fence, and I Want it All. I Want it All is in my opinion a fantastic piece of music, and is easily my favorite Transplants song to date. And songs like Hit the Fence and Madness showcase how good Rob Aston can be, something I didn't see much of with the first release. The only song I have not mentioned yet is Apocolypse Now. In the case of this track, it is a good song, just not as good as the other great songs off the album. The lyrics through-out the album are fairly weak, but I find that does not necessarily make the album any worse, as the Transplants have never been that kind of band anyway. Even though I do find faults with the album, I stick with a 5 star rating as I feel it is still an exceptional record, and I can't imagine the Transplants doing something that will top it.

awesome:
this album is chill music. i love it. its easy to lsiten to it and its jus incredible. travis barker brings his amazing percussion abilites, tim armstrong with his gravel tone voice and catchy guitar licks and finally rob aston with his angry rap lines and when you put all of thses together you get the best album of the summer, hands down.

Great Album:
I didn't really hear of the Transplants until mid 2004 with the tony hawk underground game with their song califonia babylon on it so I thought it was a good song so I checked out the album and I enjoyed it. So when I heard Gangsters and Thugs I waited till the album came out and bought it. I gotta to tell you that it is better than the first album a lot due to the fact that the music quality has been improved. But not only that it's also because the songs are a lot catchier like Not Today, Crash and Burn, Killafornia just to name a few. You can hear Tim and Rob a lot better which I had hoped when I heard this album was coming out and it made the songs sound a lot better too with featured artists like B.Real and Rakaa. Highlights on the album are the guitar parts with some solos done by Tim and there's more Bass guitar and of course the songs on which are all great except just one I don't like which is Why I Can't Describe because the chorus is a little weird but the verses are alright. One thing we have to highlight is Travis's drumming on songs like Gangsters and Thugs, Apocalypse Now and Crash and Burn because he does do a good job making it sound like hip-hop beats so you don't really have to be a fan of rock or punk to like this album because they have rap/hip-hop based songs on it. All in all this is a great album with great songs and I think it's better than their first so if you're a fan of rap, hip-hop, rock, punk whatever you should pick up this album you will enjoy it.

Good...But Not As Good As Their First Album:
I have been looking forward to this album for quite a long time...and when i first heard the first single, "Gangsters & Thugs", i was really looking forward to buying the album. when the day came for the release i rushed out and bought it...and now that i have listened to it a few times i can say it's good...but not as good as their first album...i do really enjoy songs like "Gangsters & Thugs" and "American Guns", but i just don't think thats enough to make this album better than their lasts. So if you're a fan of the transplants or punk...i do recomend u go out and buy this album...but just don't expect anything better than their last album.

• Not Today
• Apocalypse Now
• Gangsters & Thugs
• What I Can't Describe
• Doomsday
• Killerfornia
• American Guns
• Madness
• Hit the Fence
• Pay Any Price
• I Want It All
• Crash And Burn