In Vogue

As many highly touted young bands have discovered the hard way, getting thousands of fair-weather MySpace friends to actually buy your album in, like, record stores, is anything but a given. In fact, it's virtually impossible — even when there's a cleverly placed comma in your band name, and strategically coiffed commas of hair falling seductively over your be-pimpled teenage brows — both features which apply to Denver, Colorado's Drop Dead, Gorgeous, incidentally. Not that the sextet is prone to exploiting their cuteness as much as most of their post-emo brethren, and, indeed, more accessible elements like the odd patch of melody (see "Girl, Are You on Your..."), soaring chorus ("Knife vs. Face Round 1"), and stark piano (used all over the place) seem more like afterthoughts for them. Instead, more typical In Vogue tracks like "E.R.," "Marietta," and the title cut spend much of their time bashing out extreme metal breakdowns and borderline math-rock musicianship, twitching and convulsing across the silver screen like so many brain-starved zombies. Mix this up with a pair of vocalists alternately screeching like a deranged Muppet and mewling like your whiny ex-girlfriend, and it's evident that Drop Dead, Gorgeous are more preoccupied with freaking out than writing music. No wonder the MySpace kids didn't put their money where their mouse was.