Reviews

The first musical weapon this record brandishes is a singing voice immediately recognizable as a rip-off from New Found Glory, or as I call it, a terrible start to a record. The rest of the following music does little to assuage this worry, falling directly into the deep, dark, and generic hole of emo-core, the familiar worrying sound of pop hooks somehow jammed into hardcore riffage.

The lyrics are a slight departure from the standard, and even take a shot at their emotional siblings in the very first song ‘horseshoes and hand-grenades,’ mocking that it’s “all about girls girls girls.” There is a tangible sense of embarrassment in the lyrics, probably stemming from the previous Goodwill effort which is dominated by relationship and sadness, but maybe just from poor writing. This is a good example of why it is not always subject matter which makes good writing, kind of like how Jacob Bannon can make lyrics that would be emo in anyone else’s mouth sound like pure death or Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden can make songs about killing children sound like intimate beauty.

The music is something you’ve heard and the vocals make me want to cry sometimes. He even reaches for a Palumbro kind of improvisation sometimes before relapsing back to a more standard Taking Back Sunday and New Found Glory annoyingness: like nails driven into my ear drums. Melodically challenged, annoying, and tired. Not worth listening to.