When I heard that Boys Night Out were going to be releasing a digital-only EP this February, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I love Boys Night Out. Make Yourself Sick was one of, in my opinion, the best emocore records ever released. The singing/screaming dynamic was amazing, jumbling everything together into one frenetic mess. Then Trainwreck came out and took everything to another level entirely. On the other hand, it's a digital release, which is lame. Suffice to say, the BNO-loving side of me won out and I bought this EP on iTunes.
Fifty Million People Can't Be Wrong opens up with two new songs, "Reasons Ain't Our Long Suit" and "Hey, Thanks." The former has a solid rock groove. There's no screaming like on MYS, nor subtle vibes that slowly creep out like on Trainwreck. Although they still sound technical, it's much more straightforward, yet still very Boys Night Out. They also seem damn cheery, singing "and we're better / we're better than ever." And it's damn good, too.
The latter, "Hey, Thanks" furthers the departing from their original niche with just solid driven rock. It's not as good as the previous song but still extremely enjoyable. It's also worth noting there is still keys on this song, even though their keys department in Kara Dupuy is no longer in the band.
They finish off the EP with three re-recorded songs from their debut EP Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses: "The Only Honest Love Song," "Sketch Artist Composite" and "Victor Versus the Victim." This is where the release starts to become iffy. Anyone who has heard the originals knows that they were very heavy, scream-laden tracks. "Were" is really the key word there. Connor Lovat-Fraser barely rises above an empassioned croon, nowhere near as brutal as the shrill shouts like before. Not only are almost all of the vocals here sung, the songs are significantly slowed down to accompany the slower vocals. Granted, this gives us some additional fills and a clearer concept of what these songs are about, not to mention the slick production making them very audible, but it's not quite the same.
"Sketch Artist Compostie" comes out on the bright side, actually pulling me into it. The vocals shine and the additonal guitar bits soar. However, both "Love Song" and "Victor" both suffer. "Victor," the most pop-punk-inspired of their orignal tracks, just feels slow and long. Some of the new parts, again, are pretty cool, but it's just too weighted down. "Love Song" is worse off, losing almost all of its passion. The metalcore opening even sounds weak in comparison.
As a whole, much like with any digital release, I'd only suggest it to hardcore fans, but it does set the standards pretty high for their upcoming self-titled record -- as long as they don't plan on further new old songs.