Jimmy Eat World

Just when you thought Jimmy Eat World couldn't get any more polished, the band enlists the slickest man in the production business, Butch Vig, for its fifth album. What's left of the group's angular emo core gets its edges rounded off -- see the layered guitar crunch of "Big Casino" and the post-hardcore ballad "Carry You." Halfway through the album, on "Electable (Give It Up)" and "Gotta Be Somebody's Blues," the sound transforms into moody, stadium-ready alt-rock that rivals that of Billy Corgan and Co.

On their drony 2004 album, Futures, Jimmy Eat World seemed deflated, as if frontman Jim
Adkins was in need of one of his own “it just takes some time” musical pep talks. That’s
not the case with the uneven Chase This Light, which is instead afflicted with the musical
gigantism all too common in mainstream rock: The opening track, “Big Casino,” recalls the
Killers’ “When You Were Young,” with unnecessary synths burdening what s... More >