Artist: A Types Album: A Types Label: Trustkill Records Rating: 4 out of 10

Welcome to “Sell-Out 101.” The first thing you need to do is choose a trendy sound to emulate - preferably one that’s already reached its commercial and critical peak, and is heading swiftly downhill into cultural oblivion. Emo, you say. Good choice, and a popular one at the moment. Next, you must abandon all of the elements that made your band unique and attracted all of your original supporters. That unlikely combination of fierce screaming and beautiful melodies, Hopesfall, will have to go. And stop writing all of those epic songs with multiple distinct sections and moods - people just find that confusing, And they really love the verse-chorus-repeat formula at radio, so you’ll want to start using that on just about every track, though it doesn’t hurt to toss your old fans a bone every now and then. If you follow these easy steps - and can manage to lose original members like rats from a sinking ship along the way - you just may achieve those grand dreams of money and fame. Or people won’t like the new sound and your record will crash and burn, leading to the inevitable creative differences-attributed breakup. Sadly, the latest group to sign up for this class is Hopesfall. On their second full-length, A Types, these once-promising up-and-comers of the hardcore/metal scene have turned into a second-rate emo also-ran. From the heavily-harmonized vocals to the bland, uncomplicated guitar riffs and uninspired drumming, Hopesfall’s latest has all the elements of a Taking Back Sunday or Used knockoff. Nearly every song on A Types plods along at the same sluggish tempo with lackluster choruses and indistinct instrumentation, never offering a single original idea. However, there are a couple of exceptions. Opener “It Happens,” with its bass booms and stop-start guitars, is reminiscent of Chevelle, and somehow the disco-fied beat and harmonized vocals work pretty well here. Even better is “The Ones,” which actually calls to mind the Hopesfall of old as it moves from subdued, arpeggio-laced verses to a hard-rocking chorus, then closes with an extended outro of echoing, eerily-beautiful guitar lines. The band displays slight artistic growth on these token tracks, but the rest of A Types is a lost cause. So far, fan reviews of Hopesfall’s latest disc have been brutal, so hopefully the group’s members will see the error of their ways - or just go out with some dignity and hang it up altogether. - Todd Thatcher