Review Summary: It's hard to remain unbiased when writing this review, and I probably didn't.
Everyone with the tiniest bit of music in him would know that pop punk has the simplest kind of setup, and essentially one that screams, "I wanna go mainstream I wanna get all the fangirls and fanboys screaming after me!" Boys Like Girls actually succeeded in going mainstream with a boring, run-of-the-mill debut album thanks to a slightly more interesting single "The Great Escape". Love Drunk, unfortunately, has no such saviour, and what a relief too, for it would be such a waste to see Love Drunk staring at you from the shelves at CD shops that say "Hits".
Let's just skip over the part about the lyrics, since everyone can already tell that they are obviously no great work of literature. Let's just skip over the fact too that heartbreak lyrics are used to match with happy-go-jolly pop punk riffs and chord progressions. I'm afraid to say that, well, one more obstacle lies in the very music itself - which seems mostly to consist only of crotchets and quavers.
Martin's vocals are uninspired to say the most, and sound pretty much the same with no variation of tone or color whatsoever throughout the album. Even all those vocals effects don't save them, and omgwtf!? at those A7X-sounding laughter sounds and growls! Guitar riffs pretty much give the feel of a constipated man trying to get his sh*t out of him; and the guitar solos are also, though admittedly technical for the genre of pop punk, run-of-the-mill, making no contribution whatsoever to the songs. This is assuming that the listener can actually bear to sit through two repeats of verses and choruses to even REACH the guitar solos. The bass pretty much just plays the same note throughout two bars, and I'd be surprised if any old Tom/Dick/Harry off the streets couldn't sightread the bass instantaneously. The drummer is probably the only member of the band to show some improvement in skill consistently, but that is not saying much cos he was pretty bad to begin with.
The best songs in the album are probably the semi-acoustic songs, Two Is Better Than One and Someone Like You. The melody finally sounds natural in these songs, and it's a refreshing feeling really to hear a song without the abusive use of an electric guitar. Heart Heart Heartbreak, with its electronic feel, sets the tone for the entire album - consistently boring with computer effects that fail to save it from failure. Love Drunk is probably the best rock song in the entire album, and I distinctly remember myself exclaiming wtf when it was first released. She's Got A Boyfriend is as bad as its title, and it's hard not to laugh when you hear Martin repeating that 'She's Got A Boyfriend' with that jolly melody, and expecting the listener to feel heartbroken. 'Contagious' is about as infectious as bittergourd, and 'Real Thing' is -I've run out of adjectives to describe the songs- just boring, uninspired, and bad. 'The Shot 'Round The World' quickly established itself as the worst song ever written in history, but it lost that position two songs later to 'Chemicals Collide'. World records don't last very long these days, it seems. 'The First One' stands out as average, which is rare for this album. The album's closing track 'Go' is pretty decent though, with a single good melodic line, before relapsing into a repetitive self-indulgent ambient loop. The two bonus tracks are barely worth mentioning since they sound even worse than the original 'Love Drunk'.
Boys Like Girls claimed that they drew inspiration from a lot more sources for this album, and it is not hard to see that they did. All forms of mediocrity seems to have made their way into this album, and if you want to save yourself from 13 songs of torture, I suggest that you do not buy this album. If you really want to try some good pop punk, go get yourself the Safetysuit or Last Winter album, and if you want to get a good album just released, try Saosin's 'In Search Of Solid Ground'. Though it has its own fair share of faults, it at least is a much better buy than 'Love Drunk'.
