October brings us new releases by many intriguing pop punk bands of today’s music scene. With the upcoming release of new albums by Relient K, Cartel, Sherwood, Rocket to the Moon and more, fans of this genre have much to look forward to.
But out of all these bands, pressured the most is Mayday Parade. After they put out Lesson In Romantics in July ’07, a valuable member of the band chose to leave them. Jason Lancaster, lead vocalist/main songwriter/guitarist left Mayday Parade due to personal reasons and later formed Go Radio.
Now while many say Lancaster is a missing quality from the band that cannot be replaced, it can be also be said that the release of their second full-length album Anywhere But Here is an opportunity for Mayday Parade to prove to fans and haters that they are capable of bouncing back and producing a great album without Lancaster.
To begin, let me tell you, if you start listening to this album with high expectations, then you might as well toss it out the window already. While there are not many standouts, I can tell you that Anywhere But Here does not feature anything terrible either. The best word to honestly describe it is "average."
In comparing it to Lesson In Romantics, this album lacks emotion, lengthy song titles, and the vocal harmonies that makes Mayday Parade… well, Mayday Parade. The instrumentation and catchy choruses have stuck with Mayday Parade.
Unfortunately on Anywhere But Here, they give you catchiness that will typically last a week then flow out of your head. Fans are forced to say farewell to the back and forth singing between Derek Saunders and Lancaster.
Say hello to Saunders being the spotlight for Mayday Parade, who most likely aimed for fans to forget about Lancaster’s absence with this release.
Even with the loss of Lancaster, this album is a solid effort for the band. For example, if a football team were to lose their star running back, they would not score nearly as many points as before.
So throw Anywhere But Here in a different league from Lesson In Romantics and don’t be surprised if when you hear this album, they sound like a new band. They have still scored some points rather than leaving you with a big fat zero on the scoreboard .