Review Summary: "My inner child is ragin' wild and crawling out my skin"
"A sonic meld of soft, fuzzy rock'n'roll"
Brad Cuccio (Guitar/Vocals)
Reid Guidry (Bass)
Will Smith (Drums)
Stephen Salisbury (Guitar)
A description of their sound, and that description is spot-on. They mix in alt/indie with pop-punk; it's not an incredibly original concept, as it has been done an immeasurable number of times, but this is definitely a stand-out band, in my eyes. They are a local band from where I live -- or were, since they moved to California... you know, all that "hate this city" stuff in pop-punk -- but, sadly, I've never got to meet these guys. They formed in 2003, and they've been making brilliant music since. It's about time they get some appreciation.
Wilder Child of a Thousand Suns is the title of their long awaited debut; it incorporates all the aspects pop-punk bands are expected to include in their music: honest, emotional lyrics, personal narratives, catchy music, et cetera. The musicianship isn't mind-numbing, incredibly techincal, or anything like that. You wouldn't expect that in pop-punk much, very few bands. The instrumentals, however, suffice; there's a few interesting song structures thrown in, such as "Silver Lake" and "How To Sail the Atlantic Alone."
The lyric content on this album is definitely the highlight of this album -- which is complimented by Cuccio's vocal output. The opener, "Silver Lake," is a great song to start off with: "We've always wanted to leave this town/We're working on it/But we'll all live in silver Lake," The typical "leaving the town" thing in pop-punk is present here, but they've already accomplished this goal... don't think you'll hear anymore about this, right? "Won't won't you release.../You've separated from the tangles in the trees/But you won't let me down" is the opening lines in "Purgatory Creek," which is probably the biggest stand-out track on this album; it's catchy, has incredible musicianship, and -- as always -- complimented by Cuccio's vocals, and this song probably shows those vocals of his the most. "Love (Isn't Everything)" is definitely the most catchy song on this album: the melody is fantastic, there's that bit of vocal effects, and the background of the song has that great flow of simple, yet beautiful instrumentation. Let's not forget the lyrics here: "It's a problem that I don't know how to act," for some reason, is one of the lines that stick out the most on the album to me. "Nature of the Beast" doesn't start off like it would be a get closer song; in fact, it doesn't really get that "closer feel" until about halfway into the song. The latter half, though, is the perfect closer to this album: "It's alright/It's okay/I think that I will be fine/It's alright, it's okay now" goes on through the last minute or so through the song, with a few lyric changes, ending with "Living every day like it's my last," followed by the
ooohs
If you're a fan of pop-punk, then I think you'd love this album. There are those few stand-out tracks that people will love more than other songs, but all the other songs aren't filler. You should love every song on this album.
Recommended tracks:
Inner Child
Purgatory Creek
Can't Expect
Love (Isn't Everything)
