Reviews

Before I started listening to this album, I had a lot of fears going into it. I figured it would be a lame, over-produced pop album with enough light distortion for people to add the work "punk" right after "pop." I mean, seriously, Yellowcard is one of those MTV bands that has a growing teen base that desires a redundant and recycled pop sound that drains almost all the "punk" out of any good band (blink-182 ring any bells?). So with these fears in hand, I started the album and was surprised by a song reminiscent of a late 90's punk-esque track, the fast and catchy "The Takedown".

With a good start behind it, the album moved a little more to the pop side, but not as much as I had anticipated. A definite aura of "I remember these songs from high school" type of punk is present in almost every track. With this said, the tracks themselves do have a somewhat over-produced and pop oriented sound that lacks the edge one desires from a good punk album. Not quite emo...not quite...more like the slightly ticked off offspring of the two, the album progresses steadily and is entertaining but can be whiny at times.

Unlike some other bands that have completely abandoned almost every aspect of "punk" within thier music to keep with the trends and to evolve into another quasi-indie alternative pop rock band to get radio time, Yellowcard managed to evoke some remnants of what they once were. This album gets an optimistic three stars, because although after all is said and done the pop outweighs the punk, it still triggers the old memories of light blue spiked hair and a period of time in the nineties that defined many of our high school days. Overall, Paper Walls is a great album for Yellowcard fans or any fan of that old pop-punk sound.