Review Summary: Contender could be a contender for best pop punk album of 2012, but falls unfortunately flat...
0 of 4 thought this review was well writtenWhile Contender does indeed fall short of several other pop-punk albums out today, it still does prove to be an enjoyable album.
The album starts off with a slow, guitar song, with quiet, whispery vocals. But then the album takes a left swing and goes into the fast and fun song “For the Wolves” which is definitely one of the most enjoyable songs on the album, but also very short. As a matter of a fact, the album rarely has a song that crosses the 2.30 mark.
The writing on the album is good, but as mentioned, not as good as some of the other PP acts, such as The Wonder Years. However the bands singer, has a great voice for the genre, and belts the songs out with much emotion.
The album goes into another fast punk song titles Harbours, and while it isn’t the best choice for 2nd song on the album, it is still enjoyable. The lyrics unfortunately aren’t original, they remind me of some songs by The Wonder Years. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t good.
The next track is The Office and, (although I hate to make ANOTHER Wonder Years comparison) it does sound a lot like the song Summers in PA by TWY.
The next song (titled Ides) is definitely a stand out track. His vocals go much higher, and the lyrics are quite a bit more catchy. And luckily, I don’t have to mention The Wonder Years in this sentence!
I am not going to go song by song anymore, but a lot of them do sound the same.
What I’m trying to say here, is that there isn’t anything groundbreaking going on here. And although in current day, this is a very overused genre, they could have become at the top of their game by putting out something that wowed me. But unfortunately they didn’t.
Aside from a few great songs, and a few decent songs, I certainly hope that future releases will give me a better opinion on where this band wants to be in five years, if they can make it.
