Review Summary: A seemingly fantastic band -- consisting of members from Transit and This Time Next Year -- don't disappoint, but they don't exactly make as excellent of an album as you'd expect.
Transit and This Time Next Year are both admirable pop-punk bands -- the first being more midwest emo due to their latest album -- and two of the most dominant around; they bring out the catchiness of both bands really cleanly. The pair really should have thought about forming this band earlier. Tim Landers and Brad Wiseman are both lead guitarists in their respective bands, which brings their sound to be even more marvelous. Throughout this album you can hear both simple, generic pop-punk guitar-work and the more interesting and exclusive emo guitarplay -- such as the guitars in Transit. The bass sticks out in some songs (such as Bridges and Just Say It) which is another thing they bring up to the plate that a lot of pop-punk bands keep behind. The way Tim's and Brad's voices compliment throughout this album is an achievement on it's own: they share the same raspy-esque vocal-style and they switch from one another really nicely... it's quite intriguing. The lyrics, you ask? Well, they are quite alright, even if they do seem to be one of the worst aspects for the band. Don't get me wrong, they are good, they just don't admirate everything else that well. If you'd like an example of the possible best lyrics on the album, I'd suggest "Time Capsules". It brings out the best:
"I've been reading too much, I've been thinking too much/I've been missing the way things were too much/I've been missing the way I was too much/Now I think myself to sleep."
The format of this album is really nice; they thought hard on the order the songs should be placed. Really, it's not that huge of a deal, but these guys pulled that off really nicely. "Permanently" is just a simple, quick, and quiet introductory song to this great album; it's really just hungover lyrics overlapping guitars. Easy. "Time Capsules" could be the best song on this album; it has some of the best lyrics on the album, great song structures, and it is easily the catchiest song. "Just Say It" is one of the songs that was on their EP, "Problems. Problems. Problems." and I'm quite happy that they placed it on this album too. This song, instrumental-wise, is breathtaking; it shows off the emo-influence the most on this album. "I'm Really Starting to Hope the World Ends in 2012" is a song everyone who doesn't enjoy mainstream media can relate to. "I'm Sick?" shows off their vocal-trading the best. It showcases some of their great song structures as well. "The Waits" is quite a disappointing final song; it's a good song, but you'd expect more from the last song on any album, really... it just doesn't fulfill your hunger for Misser.
Overall, Misser is a duo of two great pop-punk musicians that really surprise some fans of those bands; they have great vocals, song structures, and just about everything... except lasting value. Most of the songs on this album are quite forgettable, but the songs that stick out can keep you happy for quite awhile.
