The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules

Kansas City, Missouri's finest The Get Up Kids make their triumphant return with their first studio album in 7 years, These Are Rules. The follow up to 2004's Guilt Show finds the pop-punk legends attempting to return to their throne and take back the music scene that they have been away from for so long.

The disc opens up with "Regent's Court", an up-tempo, electronic infused number that finds lead singer Matt Pryor's exceptional vocal abilities standing out among the familiar guitar riffs and keyboard sounds. "Shatter Your Lungs" is an eerie, electro influenced number that is vastly different from anything The Get Up Kids have done previously, and will take some getting used to. "Automatic" returns us to some more familiar territory with more evident guitar riffs and Matt's familiar vocal refrains reaching out over the sea of sounds present beforehand. "Rally 'Round The Fool" is a dark, mysterious number that veers out into uncharted territory for these guys, but they do a satisfactory job nonetheless despite the musical risks involved.

The disc's second half starts off with "Better Lie", a melodic, bombastic blast that will definitely keep your head bopping with a resonating wall of guitars, intense drums, and Matt's vocals once again showing who's boss. "Keith Case" finds its strengths with Matt's vocals becoming the sole highlight of the song. The guitar riffs are fair to say the least, but they don't quite match up to the tracks we heard subsequently before this one. The disc's end begins to take shape with "Birmingham", a fast paced, punk influenced track that that blends in as much instrumentation as possible within the span of 2 and a half minutes, and gets the point across to the listener right away. "When It Dies" is my favorite song off the disc, a wonderfully blended mix of pop punk and electronica into one cohesive element that best captures the formula of the album and the essence of the band as well. "Rememorable" closes out the disc with a loud, drum infested song that causes a ruckus and shows what The Get Up Kids are all about. The Get Up Kids are one of those bands that you grew up listening to back in high school that you automatically identify with, and associate a particular song with an event in your life and listening to it takes you back in time to that particular moment. While this band is very popular with the scene, another band that spun off from this band achieved equally notable success, Reggie And The Full Effect, formed by keyboardist James Dewees. Both of these bands are very well known and recognized for what they've done in the music scene to help shape the DIY music scene that is present today.

All in all, a hit or miss effort here from The Get Up Kids, who make a strong attempt to get back on the map with a return to form effort, but it only accomplishes that in spurts and is a far cry from their past releases, but it's a well fought out attempt nonetheless. Hopefully, The Get Up Kids will stay in the scene for years to come to remind us of who they really are and also help some of the upstart bands find a place in the scene and give them some guidance along the way.

                                                                                                                               Album Score: 3/5

Track Listing:

1. Tithe
2. Regent's Court
3. Shatter Your Lungs
4. Automatic
5. Pararelevant
6. Rally 'Round The Fool
7. Better Lie
8. Keith Case
9. The Widow Paris
10. Birmingham
11. When It Dies
12. Rememorable