Review Summary: Want a free listen to this music? Head to your local Hot Topic.
Break out your skinny jeans, your Vans, your hand me down flannel and beanie cap and get ready for 43 minutes of standard pop punk that is sure to make the girl next door and her fragile young heart flutter like a video game controller.
Okay, enough with the stereotyping. Let's talk the actual album.
The Maine, a pop-punk/rock quintet from Tempe, Arizona carries a few flashes of potential on top of talent. Lead vocalist John O'Callaghan is no doubt a good singer. The guys in the back play like your typical Warped Tour band. And while their full length debut "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" was a subpar, run of the mill effort, this album truly is the embodiment of generic, bland pop punk. Granted, when you think of The Maine, you may associate them with The Summer Set, All Time Low and Taking Back Sunday.
Does one see The Maine match or even surpass those bands? Rarely if ever.
Acclaimed producer Howard Benson will most likely consider this the most bland and unappealing effort he has put his name on. Opening track "Don't Stop Now" is the first of what the listener will find as many tracks with a matured sound compared to it predecessor. Nonetheless, your typical pop-punk, pop-rock blend that will always manage to have 14-year olds asking for their autograph at Warped Tour.
Tracks like "Right Girl" are somewhat charming, though often times feel very familiar and even forced to some degree. We've all heard it before. She's on your mind, she's pretty, and you're going to lose sleep tonight thinking about her. Despite the fact this record does in fact sound mature, it's that teenage mindset that tries to bridge the gap between obscurity and progression.
"Fuel to the Fire" opens with a rather nice guitar solo from Jared Monaco, though if you thought the track would promise something transcendent, then brace yourself for the re-hashed "I want to be with you" lyrical theme.
Even in spite of a disappointing effort, don't write these guys out to be foolish or even untalented. They are appealing in the sense that O'Callaghan tries his damnedest to bring this tracks to life. "Saving Grace", ironically titled, will have scene kids bouting shouts of joy when they find that the album describes a typical angst-riddled teen's life ("I walk the tight rope/On my way home/You're my backbone/I know you're somewhere close behind me.")
All in all, the album is average and disappointing, thought The Maine would go on to progress even more. Though, sadly, it cannot erase what was a lackluster sophomore effort on their part.
