This album is dedicated to the memory of Bayside's drummer John 'Beatz' Holohan, and it is a beautiful sentiment to him. It is also a first chance for many fans to hear Bayside without Beatz behind the kit, or anyone behind the kit for that matter. Their songs in this stripped down format sound more human and vulnerable.
Winter is a song that you can tell was written for an acoustic guitar. It is dedicated to Beatz and is a beautifully written song with its "We'd all be lucky to find a love like that in a lifetime...". It sets a high standard for whats to come. It's a standard that isn't met throughout the album; but that doesn't mean that this is a sub-par effort. The album is of high quality but just couldn't match up to the beauty of
Winter.
There are other standout tracks such as
Devotion and Desire, usually the band's 'most-likely-to-mosh-to' song sounds just as strong here just in a different way. The speedy intro riff sounds almost like the start of a Spanish-Guitar piece and makes for a very enjoyable take on the song.
Blame It On Bad Luck has a very good use of dynamics and builds up to the chorus very well. The chorus is still the same singalong that it always has been and therefore does nothing to take away from a great song.
While there are some great songs here, there are also some not so great songs. Songs like
Megan, which is a cover of the Smoking Popes. It starts off promisingly with a pretty little riff and doesn't disappoint throughout the verse, but at the chorus, the vocals change from Anthony to Josh Caterer of the Smoking Popes, who originally wrote the song, the song suffers. That wasn't meant as an insult to Josh in any way but his voice certainly doesn't go well with Anthony's much lower voice.
Most of the songs here are from the bands self titled album that was the last they made with John Holohan. It also includes two songs that didn't make the aforementioned album. They are both electric and their positioning at the tail-end of the album gives a nice mood change from the much thinner textured songs that the album has offered so far.
Baby Britain starts off with a piano and leads into an unusually upbeat song for Bayside.
Paternal Reversal is a fast song and is also upbeat sounding despite being about a friend called Tony's addiction to drugs. Despite being about this dark topic it offers hope to the subject of the song and this makes it more upbeat.
This is a beautiful album with plenty of great songs, especially
Winter, Blame It On Bad Luck, Masterpiece and
Devotion And Desire. It is a great way of honoring the memory of John 'Beatz' Holohan and is an album definitely worth getting for any Bayside fan, or fan of acoustic music with a passing interest in this band.
