Review Summary: Unique, but still average.
Waterparks have been slowly building a following within the Warped Tour crowd. The band's unique electronic based style of pop punk and youthful image are a big part of that. Earlier this year, they released an EP called Cluster that was met with much praise by critics and fans alike. The band have also been endorsed by/have been involved with big names such as Mikey Way of My Chemical Romance fame, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and the Madden Brothers from Good Charlotte. With all these things in mind, the band's debut album sounds to be shaping up to be pretty outstanding, no? Well...
The lead singer of Waterparks, Awsten Knight, had talked about Double Dare a few months prior to release, saying "It’s just more. Everything about it is expanded and bigger." After listening to the album, I believe there within lies the problem. It drags on. Double Dare is not bad by any means, but it sounds like an EP stretched out to a full length. The album opens with "Hawaii (Stay Awake)", which is an extremely catchy opening track with a nice electronic lead and sing along choruses. The next song, "Gloom Boys", immediately slows down the pace set by the opening track. It is not a bad track either, however it kills the momentum of the album fairly quick. By the time you get to the fourth song, "Royal", you'll start to notice how similar the songs are starting to feel. There are only a few standout tracks that are actually really good, but the monotony of the songs surrounding those tracks bring down the experience in whole.
The album is musically catchy, with many melodies throughout Double Dare finding a way into your head. The lyrics are lackluster, but work well enough in relation to the rest of the songs. Each song usually starts off with an electronic lead that segues into the rest of the song and stays in the background, giving each track a little more identity. Catchy riffs and catchy choruses are aplenty throughout the entire album.
Double Dare is average, plain and simple. Waterpark's debut album undoubtedly has a unique sound and is very catchy, but it just doesn't excite or captivate listeners. It is a decent debut full length, but the band has potential to do so much more.
