Dashboard Confessional A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar (Vagrant) Rating: NN Rating: NN
Nu-emo sad sacks Dashboard Confessional frustrate me because they’re a mélange of my guiltiest pleasures – anthemic three-chord guitars, sensitive lyrics about love gone wrong, tattooed angst-ridden frontman who’d rather make out than get it on – but somehow the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Their hit single, Screaming Infidelities, made me throw things at my radio. The new disc is more of the same overwrought balladry, with anguished vocals and lyrics about troubled girls with “dreams.” Chris Carrabba sounds like he’s writhing on the ground in torment. Gag-worthy.
