The Used w/ Dead Sara and Stars in Stereo

Setting out in 2001 from the gallows of poverty and substance abuse, the screamy alternative hard-rock band The Used has now amassed a library of five albums and several EPs all dedicated to suffering. The group's 2009 album, <i>Artwork</i>, is its most brutal. The cover depicts an oversized metal syringe marked “ART” being injected into an arm with the word “WORK” carved into it, while its opening track, “Blood on My Hands,” worked itself into an arena-rock chant about the band's obligation to suffer for their craft. The group's new <i>Vulnerable</i> is a little lighter on its toes, a hook-heavy record that tempers its ferocity a bit.