(Dreamworks)
Saves the Day has been making great music since their inception in the late '90s. Characterized by personal lyrics and competent musicianship, Saves the Day has set the bar high for the emo genre, and, for the last six years, has continued to raise it.
From the short and punchy hooks of , to the somber musings of , Saves the Day has done anything but follow the latter's advice. Their new album, , is no exception. The album opens with the upbeat \Anywhere With You,"" which almost out-weezers Weezer. Do not worry, Morrissey fans, there are still plenty of introspective lyrics and somber ballads to be found, ""Wednesday the Third"" being a prime example.
The whole tone of seems to be a little brighter than their last, but do not think for a minute that this is upbeat music. The lyrics, brilliant as usual, are far from optimistic, and while this is no , it is far from ""Shiny Happy People.""
Saves the Day has just found their new sound. This is their first album with replacement drummer Pete Parada and sans original guitarist Ted Alexander. The new line-up has not dampened the band's creativity by any means; it has just taken them in a new direction. Throughout their four albums, Saves the Day has proved to be consistently engaging and constantly changing. Whatever new sounds and directions the future holds for this young band, one thing is for sure: They will rock.
(A&M)
is just another bad album from MXPX. It features parental advice on songs like ""Play it Loud,"" which tells the pop-punk teeny-bopper crowd to ""Hold fast to your friends / Be true to yourself / And stop trying to be just like somebody else."" Thanks, but it is difficult to take such advice from a group that sounds surprisingly similar to Sum 41, Simple Plan, Blink 182 and Good Charlotte.
Then there is the featured track ""Everything Sucks (When You're Gone),""-more like everything sucks until this album is done. The chorus is somberly repeated about every 36 seconds and there is not much one can do but push the fast-forward button on the Discman, if not the stop button so as to end the misery all together.
Every song sounds the same, and it is not as though a good song is being played over and over again. No, it is songs like ""Well Adjusted,"" whose message is about how ""crazy"" the singer has gone. With such inspired lyrics on this track as, ""Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...,"" it is hard to imagine why this album would not take off.
To the band's credit, ""Don't Walk Away"" is pure poetry. The song itself, most likely, will not be the love ballad of the year, but when simply read, the words are beautiful and heartfelt. ""You're Not Alone"" is another well-written song, lyrically speaking. Someone in this band is head over heels in love and knows how to say it, though they haven't quite figured out how to play it. The composer puts himself out there when saying, ""I love it when you fall asleep on me / I'm still me and I know you're still you / Together we're in shock, together this is new / Sometimes I don't understand how you feel / But surely my love for you is real."" It is simple heart-melting honesty, what every girl wants; another song worth reading, but not worth listening to.
Overall, this is a poor album. A few of the songs have inspired lyrics but the majority are plain at best. It is like listening to a broken record-the same thing just keeps repeating itself. All the MXPX fans out there may want to wait to buy this one until it starts popping up at second-hand stores. This will probably occur in about two weeks.
