Review Summary: Golden Record never allows itself to reach emotional highs because it tries to achieve them at every moment.
It may seem to be a cheap criticism to claim that a band just “writes the same song over and over again”, but the Dangerous Summer fit that label fairly well. While fans and critics debate the relative quality and “pop-punkiness” of their albums, it is safe to say that their catalogue is very homogeneous. This was never necessarily a bad thing; better that a band succeed and develop their sound rather than shooting off into other directions and struggling for the sake of sounding different. Either way, The Dangerous Summer have a very recognizable sound, and one that has been narrowed each time they've released a new album. Because the song-writing is so similar,
Golden Record can mostly be judged based on how it differs from its predecessors, or more accurately how it exacerbates their most overly indulgent tendencies.
One of the band's clearest problems, especially on
War Paint, was how exhausting their albums were to listen to in full not only because of how similar their songs were to eachother but because they were so poundingly, constantly anthemic. To their credit,
Golden Record is recognizable as an evolution for the band, but it's one that expands their most reliable anthemic habits. AJ Perdomo pushes his voice to its gritty limits, an effect which unfortunately peaks in opening track “Catholic Girls” before wearing out its welcome. While he does sound good, and communicates the emotional point of songs clearly, the strain on his voice does place emphasis on lyrics that haven't especially matured since
Reach for the Sun. They're not bad, but they do fit a little too neatly into the pop-punk genre the band left behind, and definitely aren't mature enough to keep up with the emotional tone of the album.
The instrumentals in
Golden Record are tonally consistent with its anthemic excess. Guitars soar almost constantly, creating a climax in every moment.The album is weighed down in places by gaudy drum work; the complex, driving hi-hat from
Reach for the Sun and the pounding bass drum from
War Paint have been supplanted by an overindulgence of tom runs. Tracks like “Catholic Girls” and “Into the Comfort” are slightly muddied by percussion parts that overpower the other instruments. For the most part the instruments fit the songs, but the constant repetitive and obvious “this is an emotional song” tics wear out their welcome very quickly.
While these choices leave a collection of ten very good songs on their own,
Golden Record is even more difficult to weather than
War Paint. The album essentially sounds like ten final tracks. This throws off its flow, or rather denies it the ability to have one. The superficial variation between the songs on the album is never enough to overpower the predictability and homogeneity of the fundamental song-writing. The album never builds or quiets down for a significant time; it's blaring and blasting, making finding any emotional resonance in its constant barrage of pounding Am-C-F song-writing difficult. Despite this,
Golden Record is by no means “bad”; it has no clunkers, no really bad lyrics, and no consistency problems. For what it is, it's a well-executed album that fits neatly in the catalogue and progression of The Dangerous Summer.
Golden Record highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the band, bares them on its sleeve, and yells them into your ear.
