Dashboard Confessional — Alter The Ending

After nine years of emo indulgence, I expected to move beyond Chris Carrabba's tattooed sobs over lost love and dreams. But instead, I find myself feeling even more in love with Dashboard Confessional's latest release, Alter The Ending.

It's an album that manages to capture Carrabba's famous sense of melancholy through matured eyes. What used to be mistaken as whining has transformed into a heightened sense of alt.acoustic adulthood — the story of a man who, along with his fans, has ultimately grown up.

The songs no longer hang onto the hope of first kisses and new romance, yet they remain soft and eloquent in tracks like "Blame It On The Changes" and "No News Is Bad News." Dashboard up the energy on "Everybody Learns From Disaster" and incorporate anxious pianowork into life lessons.

If you have any appreciation for poetry, Alter The Ending will move you. After all, who hasn't "watched the sun burn down into cinders"?

Get it from