Review Summary: Great album for a few listens, accesible and danceable but not memorable or SUPERalbum of the year.
Well this is my first review, I'll give it a shot. This was just necessary because there was no review for this great album yet.
Cobra Starship is more of a side-project for Midtown-singer Gabe Saporta but boy, I love this side-project! This album is a great danceable punk emo sort of cd. It has a lot of upbeat songs with a big pinch of electronica. "While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets" is a great addition to the Fueled By Ramen line-up. You can still expect the same sort of experience from this album as other albums from Fueled By Ramen though.
That being said, you're prepared for a track-by-track review:
"Being from Jersey..." kinda sucks.... It's some sort of acoustic song which doesn't do anything for me so I could easily live without that song. (1/5)
"Send my love to the Dancefloor" makes things interesting. It starts with a great beat and this song sure is danceable (with such a name, it should!). Very catchy ofcourse, but what would you expect from an FBR-band? Thats not meant in a bad way, though cos I like this song very much! (4/5)
"The Church of Hot Addiction" is the second album of the album and the end of the Dancefloor-song it has some dialogue to prep you for this song. Again a nice and easy riff with a real "cool" feel. The song again is great to sing along. Some fun lyrics in here too "Hey, have you heard of my religion? Its called the church of hot addiction!" (4/5)
"The Kids are all F#^$ed up" starts off kinda slow. You're in for a slow song as you can hear, Gabe also sings very low in the start. The Chorus is better though, it pumps up the volume and energy and gets you in the song easier. Still one of the slower songs and not really special. (3/5)
"It's warmer in the basement" is a good but scary song. The dialogue on the previous song and these lyrics make u suggest that Gabe locked somebody up in his basement. Sounds like a psycho-horror flick if it wasnt for the fast-paced and cool beat. Pretty danceable for a mental song :). Even so, no surpises, just a good song. (4/5)
"Keep it simple" begins pretty funky with some electronic sounds. Little bit slow but this sound works for this song. Very good song with a great chorus. not special but all the electronic sounds used here are just great! The last 30 seconds are just some experimenting with sounds but sounds great too! (4.5/5)
"It's Amateur Night at the Appollo Creed!" starts off with some sort of cheesy sounding drumbeat. Still turns out to some great beats and good "mean" lyrics (My boots need shining, son!). This is my favorite song on the album with a simple chorus going "Step, Step you're too slow! Speed it up!". Nothin wrong with this song, its basically as good as the other songs, its just that everything works in this song. Also ends with a sort of warm-up for Bring It! that sounds pretty funny. (5/5)
"Bring it" is the first single and probably the song everyone knows already. Its from the Snakes on a Plane soundtrack. Its got some nice catchy play in there and William Beckett from The Academy Is... sounds awesome in here too. Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes (all FBR appearances btw) does some rapping in there too. I'm not too happy about Travis' piece though. It just sounds so outplaced and fake. Some point he raps that the snakes have dollar signs in their eyes......right? His ending does sound good. Great song , this was my introduction to Cobra Starship aswell (5/5)
"The Ballad of Big Poppa and Diamond Girl" starts with some weird electronics and actually sound so synthesized it throws you off for a sec. This song is kind of similar to Keep it Simple. This does have some nice vocals in there with some cool effects. This could go as a duet as some girl (Maja Ivarsson from the Sounds?) is singing along the track. You got some sort of scratchin in this song too, didnt sound to good for my taste but what the heck! (3/5)
"Pop-punk is soooo '05" is, ofcourse how the name sort of suggests, a real pop-punky song. Starts off w ith some ripping guitars and it keeps that upbeat love-songey kind of feel to it. Same as all the songs on the album, has some great and fun effects on the vocals, beats and overall song. Fast and fun song. (4/5)
"You can't be missed" is the final song on the album. It starts off pretty dark and relaxed. It merges to a shout-out loud chorus. By the time you listen to this song you might not feel to listen to this one anymore but it really is worth a listen. (4/5)
There you have it, folks. It is a great album, but I doubt it will be memorable after a few years. Its a typical Fueled By Ramen album which means, accesible, mainstream, punk, alternative but not too far over the edge. Great albums IMO, just not what SUPERalbums are made off, dont you think? I loved every second of this album, but in the end I will still reach back to some other albums that are more out there and are gutsy to try something new.
PS: This is not to diss FBR, I love it that there finally is a good label that actually puts accesible punk, alternative music on the map big time. Three Cheers for FBR!
