The album kicks into high gear almost immediately with the leadoff single, "Up & Go" a fast paced, frenetic thrill ride featuring lead singer and bassist Kenny Vasoli's melodic and authentic vocal style that immediately makes you feel the emotion emanating from his voice. "Given The Chance" continues the melodic onslaught with Kenny singing "Can't wait to hit the stage and say hello to Jersey", bringing to mind the days of the band playing festivals and Warped Tour, and giving the opportunity for fans to experience the band in concert and meet them afterwards at the tent, a truly memorable and reflective track here. "Leaving" brings down the kinetic energy a little bit to bring a little something different to the table here with Kenny and the band delivering a extremely well written track that makes you feel the same emotions that Kenny is pouring out through his voice, giving you a long lasting experience to look back fondly on. "Best of Me" is the album's most memorable song and one of the Top 5 best songs within the pop-punk genre, clocking in at a little over 4 minutes the song never stops delivering the goods until the very end with its cathartic chorus and the dynamic energy emanating strongly from the track immediately makes you feel like you're 17 years old all over again. "A Goodnight's Sleep" continues to bring the positive and reflective energy to the masses with a track about a love once had and the pain caused from the breakup, one of the common themes revolving around most pop-punk tracks within the genre.
We start off the second half of the disc with my favorite song off the album and my favorite TSL song of all time, "Cheek to Cheek". The album immediately brings to mind images of the summertime and is a track that I look back fondly on and is the reason why I fell in love with this band in the first place and encapsulates everything I love about the band in one, fell swoop. "Decisions, Decisions" will immediately have you feeling goosebumps with its intricate guitar riffs by Matt Watts and Mike Golla tugging at you on impact and continuing to draw the attention of everyone listening and bringing everyone together so that they can all experience this as one. "Saddest Girl Story" is a fast paced, anthemic track that delivers all the musical prowess the band can muster up as quickly as possible so that everyone can take notice of all the musical elements that make up this track. Drummer Tom Gryskiewicz does a marvelous job with his furious drumming style contributing greatly to the sped-up tempo of this song. "Left Coast Envy" starts out with a marvelous guitar riff that grabs your attention immediately and continues to draw the listener's interest all throughout with Kenny's brilliant and authentic lyricism that everyone can relate to and the marvelous instrumentation from everyone in the band contributes greatly to an all-around solid tune. "The Drama Summer" is a strictly acoustic based tune, with Kenny pouring out everything he has to offer with an absolutely breathtaking and inspirational track that is a marvelous way to bring all your friends together and experience this as the album starts to draw to an end. The album draws to a close on "This Ride", an absolutely perfect way to close out the album with a fast paced, pop-punk blast that brings in elements heard before at various points all throughout the album and wraps everything up perfectly, ensuring that this album was a worthwhile listen and something that you'll look back fondly on for years to come. As some of you may have figured out by now, I'm an absolutely devoted Starting Line fanatic and have loved the band ever since I first saw the video for "Best of Me" on MTV 10 years ago, and since then I've been immediately hooked on everything they have put out that has a TSL logo on it and have listened to every single song they have put out, whether it's a original composition or a cover song, they have done everything perfectly and I'm also planning on getting a TSL tattoo sometime in the near future to show my absolute devotion to this band.
To sum it all up, an absolutely perfect album from start to finish, and the one that is largely responsible for my love of music to this point and the sole reason why I care about music so much, whether it's listening to it or writing about it, I probably wouldn't be sitting here doing this blog if it wasn't for these guys! An essential listen for any pop-punk music fan, young or old!
Album Score: 5/5
Track Listing:
- Up & Go
- Given the Chance
- Leaving
- The Best of Me
- A Goodnight's Sleep
- Almost There, Going Nowhere
- Cheek to Cheek
- Hello Houston
- Decisions, Decisions
- Saddest Girl Story
- Left Coast Envy
- The Drama Summer
- This Ride
No comments:
Post a Comment