Paramore

Paramore: Brand New EyesBrand New Eyes (2009)
Fueled By Ramen Records

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: BabrookBabrook
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on October 9th 2009I realize that most of you keyboard cowboys here have a dislike for Paramore; that's okay, and brand new eyes is not going to change your feelings on the band. However, if you do like Paramore or have never given them a legitimate listen, their third and most mature album is certainly worth a few sp.

I realize that most of you keyboard cowboys here have a dislike for Paramore; that's okay, and brand new eyes is not going to change your feelings on the band. However, if you do like Paramore or have never given them a legitimate listen, their third and most mature album is certainly worth a few spins. The band went through some hardships and nearly split up prior to recording their latest, but the emotion put into this album has made it much more 'grown-up' compared to 2007's Riot!. While it will still get a lot of radio and MTV play, brand new eyes is more mature than their prior release in both lyrical content and sound.

Lead singer Hayley Williams really has a great voice and she sounds better than ever on this release. Tunes like "Careful" and "Brick by Boring Brick" have her really stretching her range more than she has on previous albums. "Careful," which is the album's opening track, is one of the standouts here with its incredibly powerful chorus. The album is full of upbeat, radio-friendly sing-along tunes, though they do tone it down for "The Only Exception," a mostly acoustic ballad that may be the only boring part of the album. Hayley sounds great in it, but Paramore's strength has never been playing slow stuff (though the folky sounding "Misguided Ghosts" is a pleasant surprise, it's not something you'd expect from Paramore and it works really well). Fortunately, there are no tracks that resemble Hayley's attempt to sound 'hard' in her cameo on Set Your Goals' "The Few That Remain" earlier this year. Some releases of the album have their 2008 single "Decode," which was featured on the Twilight movie soundtrack, tacked onto the end. It fits well with the album and is a solid track despite being written about a sexy teenage vampire.

A lot of times people seem to forget that there is a band behind its lead singer, and while they play solid music it's really the vocals that make Paramore what they are. The solos are all pretty boring, or nonexistent in most tracks; it's almost like they realize they needed Hayley's voice to be interesting. The band did recently add a new rhythm guitarist, but he was not around for the recording of this and has been an 'unofficial' member of the band for years.

If nothing else, brand new eyes is a solid punk-twinged alternative rock release. It won't make the band any new fans, but those who already enjoy them are in for a treat. Riot! did have more standout tracks and arguably more personality, but where it relied on a few strong singles and the rest of the album was filler, brand new eyes manages to stay pretty interesting throughout its entire length. Definitely their strongest release yet, Paramore only gets better with each album and I look forward to what they do next.

Commence the hating.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

PunkRockPrincess69 (March 26, 2011)

this cd was my least favorite of Paramore's. yess it was good. but it could have been more like 'Riot'.

roosterboy (August 5, 2010)

Love all the comments about this being a guilty pleasure of theirs. Imagine that: nazipunks digging paramore.Its ok to like catchy tunes people.

XHenkkaX (November 27, 2009)

Definitely a guilty pleasure of mine, the the kind of pop I can handle.

ak3punk (October 14, 2009)

Their art direction and photos are awesome. The music is ok....

someone-yeah (October 14, 2009)

Naked chest? Woah buddy, you crossed a line.

AndrewH13 (October 13, 2009)

I wonder what it's like to get a record deal based solely on the fact that people what to poop on your lead singer's naked chest?

AskedForIt (October 12, 2009)

Score is for their acoustic cover of "Use Somebody".

Fresnoska (October 12, 2009)

Never listened to them before, bought it cause it was 3.99 on amazon mp3, and it is pretty damn catchy. If I told my friends I enjoy this, I would never hear the end of it......

oldpunkerforever (October 12, 2009)

this has nothing to do with punk, in any way. However it is my guilty pleasure of 2009 for being just good rock songs. every yeay I have a guilty pleasure CD, 2009 belongs to Paramore ( geez, I never thought I would ever say that)-oldpunker-

VISUALDEGREE05 (October 11, 2009)

Paramore is really one of my guilty pleasures. It's good to know they're maturing - but they are breaking up temporarily - just to set the record straight.

robes (October 11, 2009)

My cat's breath smells like cat food

chokingvictim (October 11, 2009)

really dislike this band. tried to get into em cause so many people whose tastes i generally respect dig em, but there just isn't anything appealing here.

really boring, standard radio songs.

TheViz (October 11, 2009)

Score is for how hot the singer is. Her voice annoys the shit out of me, though. Won't be listening to Paramore until she's out of the band and into my bed.

colin (October 11, 2009)

the girl can sing.

other than that this band is wholly forgettable. their contract practically requires their songs to be written for them. that 360 shit is FUCKED. i get the whole "we need to review everything related" stigma on this site, but bullshit corporate ploys like paramore should come with a goddamn asterisk on their reviews.

maybe i'm just slow, strange, or old, but at least blink 182, green day, fuck - even fall out boy, is a legitimate pop band with punk learnings. the fact the redhead wore an american nightmare shirt to the grammys or vmas (or whichever it was) means nothing. fuck this band.

CobraSkullsFan (October 10, 2009)

always hated them -- didn't like them on the cover of magazine after magazine over the past three or so years -- but after all the touring and growing that this band has done both personally and with their instruments, I have to say this is a solid release. listened to it a few times in fact. SO, actually, this album DID turn a "not" fan into a new fan. And I usually dig shit like Cobra SKulls (obviously), Dillinger Four, The Souls, and Youth Brigade.

friokir (October 10, 2009)

"umm.. hey, guys, do you mind if I step in on this one?"

"dude, go for it!"

thus_spoke_sean (October 10, 2009)

Overall, pretty disappointed with this. On Riot! they were a fun, sugary power pop act. Now they are a pretty straight ahead pop rock act. Not a big difference, except for the FUN. There are definitely some mediocre songs on Riot!, but most of them managed to retain their fun factor. On this record, they are nothing but mediocre. "Where The Lines Overlap" is fantastic and there are a few other solid ones, but overall.... Within the first week of owning it I went from listening straight through to skipping through it, I doubt I'll be listening to it at all in a month or two.

mystereohasmono (October 10, 2009)

awful band. tweens who wear rope headbands are stoked.

eatdogs (October 10, 2009)

kung pow enter the fist is on tv right now.

telegraphrocks (October 10, 2009)

I have no "real" opinion of this band. From what I've heard, they seem kind of catchy, but it's not really my thing. I don't even remember how any of the songs went.

This has been a pointless post by telegraphrocks. Good day, sirs and madams.

Hey_Asshole (October 10, 2009)

i always wonder how much of the hate this band gets is due to actual hatred of the band, or simply the "scene" they are affiliated with.

crackpotdemagogue (October 10, 2009)

in my (brand new/slow and old) eyes, there is nothing punk rock about this band - unless, that is, all punk rock constitutes is some kind of contrived, angsty aesthetic choice; in which case this band are punk rock of the highest order.

score is for keyboard cowboys.

Piata (October 10, 2009)

This album was just as forgettable as the rest. Hayley has a great voice but the band itself isn't especially talented and the lyrics are horrible.

westfield_east (October 10, 2009)

if it wasn't for the two "ballads", I probably would have given this a higher score.

still, a solid release from a solid band.

wearestillalive (October 10, 2009)

Paramore will probably put out a really good best of compilation in a few years, and this review isn't very good.

brokenrecord (October 10, 2009)

I just got my philly flyers orange mike richards jersey today.
what a beautiful jersey that is.

Babrook (October 10, 2009)

I knew he did some writing but was not aware that he had ever recorded with them.

My mistake.

patternsband (October 10, 2009)

"The band did recently add a new rhythm guitarist, but he was not around for the recording of this and has been an ‘unofficial’ member of the band for years. "

Might wanna double check that fact... ...he wrote some of the songs on the album AND recorded on it. His name is Taylor York. It's in the little booklet that comes with the cd.

cheesetits (October 10, 2009)

Really guys?

LeightonESmith (October 10, 2009)

chix diggit

zombiepunk (October 10, 2009)

Pretty good. I loved "Riot!"

Wesley_Snipes (October 10, 2009)

HOTTER than Hayley Williams, the score is for this chica: http://oldboy1985.deviantart.com/gallery/#Susan

angrymatt (October 10, 2009)

I recently gave one of their CDs a try. I listened to it in the car on my way to work a few days this week. It was their 2005 release, don't remember the name of it. It wasn't terrible, it did not repulse me. Unfortunately, it is totally forgettable. Not a single stand out track that made me perk up and notice it.

SomebodysDoneFor (October 9, 2009)

Gave this a sincere chance after being relentlessly bludgeoned by "Decode" playing at both my jobs (movie theater, video store). Didn't want to like it but the song's catchiness did grow on me. Wasn't overly impressed with record. I thought it was mostly boring and just kinda bland, but there were some killer tracks. "Careful" was really good and the official closer "All I Wanted" has an amazing vocal line. Other than that it's standard fashioncore.

kylewagoner (October 9, 2009)

Hayley listens to Propagandhi. Score is for that.

mnx12 (October 9, 2009)

How much do you want to bet that the majority of people giving this record a low score didn't even listen to it?

InThe_Evening (October 9, 2009)

Why do they waster their time reviewing albums like this and still haven't gotten around to gold country

____Win_Win_Situation____ (October 9, 2009)

score is for the term "keyboard cowboys"

mikexdude (October 9, 2009)

I absolutely can't get enough of this album.

RedElephant (October 9, 2009)

score is for this band.

RedElephant (October 9, 2009)

score is for how hot singer is.

Blackjaw_ (October 9, 2009)

I liked that live acoustic performance of Brick By Boring Brick, but this whole album generally sucks. I like her voice but not her lyrics or the band's music.