If there were a moral to Like Clockwork's latest album, it would be: break-ups suck. Why? Because Jesse Astin recently suffered a breakup large enough to spawn 15 songs on the topic. Those 15 songs were compiled, and the title "A Cross in the Ground" was stamped on the resulting album.

            These fifteen songs of electronica-tinted hard rock, rock, pop, and balladry are confessional in the highest sense of the word. This is some of the most emotionally draining music I've ever heard. It's like Astin scrubbed his mind of every thought, then wrung out the sponge into these songs. I feel like I know Jesse Astin after listening to this album. That's how much emotion was put into this. Its truly amazing.

            The songs range from sparse piano to thundering hard rock, and everything in between. I said that already, but there's really no other way to explain it. It's all extremely well coordinated and extremely well written, which was a surprise to me, as albums that span multiple genres usually fare horribly. The best songs here reflect that, as "A Poison to Stir" is an acoustic-led ballad, and "No Out Girl" is a highly electronic, abrasive rock piece that crescendos wonderfully to a chorus that is epic in scope and sound. If there were more like "No Out Girl", this album would've been even better than it already is.   

            In fact, the only thing that fares horribly on this album are the vocals. Astin's voice is a train wreck of a voice: off-key, yelping, nearly screaming in some parts, and grating on the ears. In a few songs, his off-kilter vocal explosions fit well ("A Poison to Stir" to actually has an excellent vocal performance), but overall the impression left is: "AUGH, THESE VOCALS ARE KILLING ME!" I hate trashing vocals, but Astin's leave a negative mark that you don't soon forget.