When Your Heart Stops Beating - +44 > Reviews > When Your Heart Stops Beating

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Not applicable
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Beautiful melodies and guitar work .  Who can forget the drums of Travis Barker !
Disadvantages:	None come to mind .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The debut album from (+44) (pronounced plus fourty four).
(+44) came about after the breakup of blink-182 and features 2 out of 3 it. Starting as an electronica-experimental group involving Carol Heller (Get The Girl) but soon evolving into a more guitar orientated band, the final line up is Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker (both part of blink-182), Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return) and Craig Faribaugh (The Forgetten) with no Carol.
I feel the album name says it all to be honest, as it truely is a great album, and clichéd as it sounds the best i've heard. At the beginning I wasn't at all dubious about what I was to expect, even after the big expectations and letdown of the Angels & Airwaves CD put out by Tom DeLonge (the third member of blink). Tom had spent the previous year bigging himself up and his band to be "The best thing you've heard in 20 years". On the other hand, Mark and Travis had said almost nothing about their new band. Angels & Airwaves were good, but they lacked a certain something. (+44) however don't lack anything. A release full of slow moving songs, upbeat jaunty songs, depressing songs and pretty much any kind of song you want. It suits pretty much any mood as long as you pick the track correctly!
Although I'm finding it tough to pick, the best songs on the album have to be;
Little Death,
155
No, It Isn't,
Make You Smile
and the title track When Your Heart Stops Beating.

If you wondered what happened to Carol after originally hearing her on the demo release of No, It Isn't, she sings a duet with Mark on the track Make You Smile.
blink-182 fans will be proud of this and if you are any kind of punk rock/pop-punk fan you should pick up this album. Even if your not give it a go, I promise it won't dissapoint. If you want a feel for the band via itunes, download No, It Isn't. That bests describes the band.

And as an extra, when you unfold the insert in the CD case, it becomes a + sign. A nice touch I thought.