| Poppy music is generally hard to mess up, just insert catchy riffs into mildly interesting songs and you’ll more than likely come out with a product people will enjoy and sing along to. Somewhere along the way, Say No More messed up this formula. Their latest effort, What You Thought You Knew, is a record that inspires very little intrigue and desire. It’s shocking that they somehow landed on a label like Drive Thru, who has a solid track record of releasing superfluously brilliant rock records.
The first bit of this review may come off as a little harsh, the record isn’t completely awful, but it’s simply for beginners. If this were a college course, it’d be Introduction to Catchy Rock, entry level. Listeners who have experienced a lot of bands from this genre will find WYTYK to be just a cut below par. Their style and sound is a watered down version of bands like Relient K, or The Starting Line. And with an average song length of about two and a half minutes, this record is over before you’ll know it. What makes makes me blasé about this band? Simple enough question. The vocalist doesn’t have enough umph in his vocals to power the band and their songs lack any flare at all, no solos, no drum fills, nothing. This is stripped down rock.
You don’t hit the best song on the album until track eight, which also happens to be the title track. The vocals become a little more dynamic, there are harmonies and melodies that work, everything seems to fit on “What You Thought You Knew” the song. The problem is that there are only eleven songs. By the time there is a song worthy of listening to from start to finish, the album is almost over. I wouldn’t go out of my way to suggest this record to anyone, unless they were adolescent youth group kids. Recommended songs: “What You Thought You Knew” & “Lone Oak Corral”.
~ Shane
May 09 2008 |
