The Sophomore Year

This Atlanta, GA foursome only started late 2003, and recently signed a deal with the Search And Rescue label. It was about time I reviewed something coming from this label, because the previous stuff I obtained from them was pretty good as well, with bands like Bensin, Greyfield and The Chiodos Brothers (who were recently picked up by Equal Vision Records, FYI). Although those all deserved some more of my attention, they somehow never really got me into reviewing them. But The Sophomore Year is definitely the most promising band of the lot if you like your New Found Glory or Millencolin in a new jacket.

The ten songs on this disc are really most enjoyable and catchy as hell. The guy’s voice is either sounding like an exact copy of Millencolin’s Nikola in a few songs (especially opening song “Routine Summer”), while in others you could easily be confusing with NFG’s Jordan. Without a doubt, the similar music only adds to that feeling. I guess it’s not easy to write something new about this band, being that they have a sound that's so recognizable and easy to compare with so many bands out there that we all know very, very well. It’s as if there’s no end in sight for the new melodic pop-punk bands these days. But then again, this band is surely one of the most energetic and exciting I’ve heard. The band is, maybe at times or in the middle of the album perhaps, a tiny bit similar to Staring Back, one of my favorites in the genre. And to finalize this list of sound-alikes, let’s pop in some older Ataris as well for the sometimes nicely included guitar melodies and breakdowns. Lyrically, you’ll get your usual personal-love garbage, but what can you do about that these days?

There’s not really one standout track here, but on the other hand there’s no total letdowns either; it's just a solid, flowing album with poignant and punchy songs that won’t have the “classic guys” turn their heads for a second (i.e. they’ll puke on this), but if you’re open to flawless, studio-manufactured sounds that have a good hook and poppy melodies it won’t harm to buy this. I know it’s not original, by far actually, but I dig this…pretty deep.

You can now start commenting about how bland this band is sounding. I don't give a shit if you think this is uncool music, my judgement is based on the number of times this got in my CD-player recently.