All-American Rejects

All-American Rejects (2002)

StabbingGoldfish

I first stumbled across this band while searching for tabs for some Coheed and Cambria songs. I then came across a website that has some decent reviews, this record being one of them. They only had good things to say about this duo from Stillwater, Okalahoma. So after reading their review I went out and picked up a copy of The Rejects debut cd.

This band consists of Tyson Ritter(vocals, bass) and Nick Wheeler (guitars, drums, keyboards, & programming) and are described as being synth power-pop. The cd starts of with a catchy number titled "My Paper Heart." Right away you can hear the drum loops, and Tyson's amazing voice. The Rejects are constantly switching between drum loops and actual drumming; I think this gives the record a fresh feel.

The third song, "Swing Swing," starts off with a church organ synth sound, and then breaks into a nice bass line with Tyson's awesome vocals. This is the song the band has selected as their hit and it's justified because it's a great song.

For some reason the song "One More Sad Song" sounds alike like a Blink 182 song to me. It's something about the intro and the way he sings it. But then they break into the chorus and sing in a falsetto style that they use a lot in the record, and completely blow Blink 182 away. The vocals are defiantly the strong point of this band.

Without a doubt the standout track on this record is "Why Worry." It starts off with a melo acoustic guitar, and then turns into a driving song with an amazing chorus. The chorus sounds like there is a group of 15 people behind them harmonizing with the band. It just sounds awesome. This song is incredibly catchy and will have you feet tapping along with the song before long.

All in all this is a pretty damn good record. It holds your interest from start to finish with catchy synth pop. These guys are a great find for Doghouse, and they'll probably be pretty successful in the near future.

Download "Swing, Swing" and "Don't Leave Me" here