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Park

No Signal (2001)
Lobster Records

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Contributed by: Hein
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on October 30th 2001

I'm doing something now, I normally never would do...writing a review before I even listened through the whole disc. And this is not because I don't like it, in fact it's a great emo-pop blast that's coming out of my speakers here and I just felt the need to write something now, because I have that good feeling with this one, and I feel these thoughts I'm having could get lost if I would write down something later. Lobster is a label that doesn't release a load of albums every year, but my god, haven't they offered us some quality over the past years. Park, a foursome out of Springfield, Illinois is no exception to it. The "Emo"-word covers a wide variety of sounds these days and I must say I feel we are getting a bit flooded by all these emo-pop-punk bands these days which made me grab back to quite some heavier stuff over the last few months (see what emo can do for hardcore hey?). But something like Park, with these phenomenal vocals of Ladd Mitchell that really interact perfectly with the catchy (more melodic sounding then any other emo-band) guitars, convinces me more then ever that punk is a genre that is NOT narrow. Cameron Webb (Junction 18, Lit, Dynamite Boy), did another great producing-job, making sure that this has not evolved into a sleepery, mellow collection of songs. Not a trivial job considering a lot of songs are 4-5 minutes long. Maybe I would have rated it even higher if it would have been a bit more hooky, something they're not aiming for though I guess. I would call it a perfect crossing between the Alkaline Trio and Midtown, while also bands like Counterfit, NFG and Further Seems Forever come to mind. Actually I guess you could say this is a band that you'd bet they were on Vagrant, but maybe Lobster wanted something of the emo-pie themselves and I think they have taken a big chunk out of it. Anyway, you won't be surprised to hear that this one has its own accoustic song, and believe me, although I always have been a bit opposed to those... it's finger-licking good.

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Anonymous (January 11, 2006)

I love this album its amazing and i totally agree that this is a midtown and alkaline trio mix they have a very unique sound and should be checked out if u havent heard

Anonymous (August 8, 2004)

i think that this cd is better than most of the shit that is out there

SaxxyRebel (May 25, 2003)

Its "Ian" not "Ean" Timmys rock.

*Chuck Fat*

Anonymous (February 2, 2002)

for u gungadins fans. the timmies get their prongs sucked off by em after every show that the poor timmies have to play with them. robbie rules. wes rules. woo-dog rules. tyler rules. ean rules.

Anonymous (February 2, 2002)

yeah well i was the cd release party back in august when they played with gods reflex and they killed. i have seen them 3 times since and ladd and justin rip the guitar up. and the gunga dins blow. i first heard park when my friend had an advanced mp3 of "clue me in" and i was all over it. plus, all I have seen are good reviews on em and pastepunk.com ranked them at #11 of the year and a listeners poll at punkrocks.com had them ranked at #20. that was by voters. Miles, the cow costume at the halloween show was outstanding.

Larry_Lawrence (November 6, 2001)

I'm doing something now, I normally never would do...responding to a review before I even listened through the whole disc. And this is not because I like it, in fact it's an awful excuse for music that's coming out of my speakers here and I just felt the need to write something now, because I have that good feeling that this one could be the worst cd I'll ever have the displeasure of listening to, and I feel these thoughts I'm having could get lost if I would write down something later. Lobster is a label that doesn't release a load of albums every year, but my god, they've but signing a bunch of bands lately that should've given up before they even started. Park, a foursome out of Springfield, Illinois is no exception to it. The "shit"-word covers a wide variety of sounds these days and I must say I feel we are getting a bit flooded by all these shit-pop bands these days which made me grab back to quite some heavier stuff over the last few months (see what pop can do for hardcore hey?). But something like Park, with these shallow vocals of Ladd Mitchell that really ramble on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on in a monotone fashion with the "catchy" (more muddled sounding then any other pop-band) guitars, convinces me more then ever that pop is a genre that is mostly narrow. Cameron Webb (Junction 18, Lit, Dynamite Boy), did another producing-job that left much to be desired, making sure that this has in fact evolved into a sleepery, boring collection of songs. A trivial job considering the band sucks anyway. Maybe I would have rated it higher if it would have been a bit more spooky, something they're not aiming for though I guess. I would call it a perfect crossing between the AFI and Korn, while also bands like Kansas, Ace of Base and Bel Biv Devoe come to mind. Actually I guess you could say this is a band that you'd bet they were on Vagrant, but maybe Lobster wanted something of the crap-pie themselves and I think they have taken a big chunk out of it. Anyway, you won't be surprised to hear that this one has its own accoustic song, and believe me, although I always have been a bit fond of those... it's ass-licking crap.

*LARRY LAWRENCE*

(i know i'm not funny.)

maverick (November 6, 2001)

The Gunga Dins! That band is soooo funny. They cover "Foolish Games" by Jewel... punkrock.

-Scott

Anonymous (November 6, 2001)

The only Springfield band that matters is the Gunga Dins.

Anonymous (November 3, 2001)

Cool disc. These guys were pretty good live when I saw them up here in Canada a couple of times in the last few months with Moneen.

-PorkPie

Anonymous (November 2, 2001)

actaully i from springield and ive been seeing this band forever, and i still dont really like them, although they did get better with thier current drummer. Go Miles!
Hell i'll give them 10 points for being from the same town and scotts slayer reference.

maverick (November 2, 2001)

When I heard this band last year when they toured with Gods Reflex, they were pretty uninspiring. But a lot can happen in a year, so maybe I'll give them a second chance. Plus, their review number is 666 - major Slayer points there.
-Scott

Anonymous (November 2, 2001)

yay! another good review for PARK. i've been rockin' this disc since I got it a few weeks ago - simply awesome stuff. if you like your music to sound very thick and melodic, this is as close to perfect as you can get. check out my review here: http://pastepunk.com/reviews.cgi?folder=p&next=5

- jordan pastepunk