The emo banner still flies high, and Chicago's Spitalfield now finds itself at the head of the class with the quartet's sophomore effort, Stop Doing Bad Things. The 11-track sojourn comes after over two years on the road for the boys, and it marks the outfit's newfound maturity, as tracks like "The Future is Now" and "Texa$ with a Dollar Sign" rock out first with the shades of sensitivity lagging slightly behind. Only problem with this disc is that Stop Doing Bad Things is pretty interchangeable with a lot of what's impacting rock radio and college campuses these days, kind of an amalgamation of Jimmy Eats World and Taking Back Sunday with dashes of Fall Out Boy. Nevertheless, this release contains the sound the industry is shoving down the public's throats, and should thrust Spitalfield to the next level.

Mike SOS