Media Review

Saves The Day

Sound The Alarm (CD)

Vagrant
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Overall Rating:

10.0

Music Quality: 10.0

Production: 9.5

Originality: 9.5

This is the most important record of the year.

This is one of the most important records of the past five years.

This is a band reinventing itself yet again, and all the while retaining the sound that makes them the best band in the current rock scene.

This is Dave, Pete, Chris, and Manny.

This is Saves The Day's "Sound The Alarm."

Before getting to the review, I'd like to say that Saves The Day's 2003 album "In Reverie" is my all time favorite album, and still is. Despite being a critical success, it split a dichotomy into the band's fan base. Though some could get into it, and peel it apart for its incredible chordal architecture and perfect harmonies, others thought it was too different from what they knew of Conley and the gang. It was also a relative commercial failure compared to their previous ground-breaker, Stay What You Are, selling only about 128,000 records, to Stay What You Are's 400,000+ copies.

So here they are now, in 2006, with a different bassist, and a new sound that is still entirely familiar. If you loved "In Reverie," you'll find things to love in this album. If you love the original Lifetime-sound of Saves The Day on 1998's "Can't Slow Down," you'll love this album. If your favorite Saves The Day records are the two classics, 1999's "Through Being Cool" and "Stay What You Are" of 2001, you'll instantly fall in love with "Sound The Alarm" for its powerful guitars, bass and drums with that signature Chris Conley voice. Conley himself described the album himself as "the Beatles from hell," with which I wholeheartedly agree. There is a recurring theme throughout the album of the apocalypse. We hear it in nearly every song; the world is ending, or has already been decimated. However, not only is there the panic of the world coming to an end, but there is also an underground cult of some sort that has survived the apocalypse that is out for Conley. It is up to the listener to decide if he is correct about the world ending or if he is, in reality, breaking down and going insane.

Saves The Day truly has a knack for starting out with a great first track that always alerts the listener of what they are in for on the rest of the album. "Sound The Alarm" is no different, as it opens up with a killer staccato guitar rhythm and Chris' punchy vocal style on "Head For The Hills." I'd describe the vocals on this record as if the vocals from "In Reverie" were kicked in the face. It really has a sneer to it without becoming too enraged, sounding as if there is a complete urgency to tell the listener as soon as possible what they are in store for. One of Chris' best talents is writing an astounding bridge to compliment the rest of the accompanying song, and "Head For The Hills" is no different. Once this track finishes, the listener is immediately thrown into the powerful first single from the album, "The End."

If you're reading this review, you've probably already heard "The End," be it live on their 2005 tour with (here's when I vomit) Senses Fail, a recording of that, or just through the grapevine. It begins with a quiet distorted guitar and then gets right into the madness. After the intro, it gets to a drum and bass verse with that signature Chris Conley voice.

"Smile for the camera, suck in that gut.
Don't shame your family, you'll have bad luck.
Oh, the whole world is waiting to see when you fall."

After another verse, there's a drum break for a short bit, and then into punkish breakdown, with Conley singing:

"I'm a danger to myself, always blaming someone else.
Got the grenade in my mouth and my finger on the pin, ready to rip it out."

And if that isn't enough, he kicks us in the face with:

"Yeah, that's right."

There is a definite sense of Saves The Day, as a whole, regaining their confidence that once put them on the map as the next big thing. With this being their fifth studio album, Conley is still only 25 years old. After taking a hit from the low sales of "In Reverie," Saves The Day is back in full form.

The next track is "Shattered," a song that begins with a powerful bass line (by new bassist Manny Carrero, ex-Glassjaw), pounding bass drum, a punchy snare and splashy cymbals in the verse. The guitars kick in for the infectious chorus, complete with Conley belting out "please don't forget about me." In fact, possibly the best lyrics come from this song's chorus.

"I can't stand my own face anymore.
The mirror is on the floor, shattered,
a million eyes are crying 'please don't forget about me.'"

As "Shattered" comes to an end, it breaks down in classic Saves The Day fashion and ends on a major chord, in contrast to the minor key of the song.

After "Shattered" comes "Eulogy." "Eulogy" sounds the least like anything Saves The Day has done in the past, before kicking into the chorus which has chord changes similar to "In Reverie's" title track. The most awe-inspiring part of this song is the transition from the first verse into the chorus, whereby all sound is lost until a sonic boom of a crescendo erupts, sending the listener directly into the refrain. It is at this specific point in the album when the listener realizes what he or she has gotten into, and pure rock album in classic Saves The Day fashion, but with brand new (not the band) devices in achieving a common goal.

The lyrics throughout the album sound more like Saves The Day's older material, more self loathing and using references to the human body as emotional symbolism.

"Dying Day" is the most upbeat track on the album. It sounds like it could be a b-side to 2001's "Stay What You Are," with its major IV to minor iv chord changes and poppy tempo. The lyrics found in "Dying Day" stray away from the apocalyptic theme of the rest of the album, but still deal with the regret and inability to change what one has done. It even sounds as if there is regret about past music in this song - "The pictures in the past are on the wall / they'll hang there in the dark until they fall." These "pictures" could very well be the old Saves The Day albums themselves.

Though there is not a single bad track on "Sound The Alarm," I think the weakest may be "34," though I'm not entirely sure why. It could be because of it's placement in time on the album, or the slower pace, I really just don't know. The lyrics and chord progression are both great, and there are some killer bass fills. After the guitar lead-in about halfway into the song, there are some great drum fills, too. I don't know what makes this song weaker than the rest, but I get that feeling for some reason. Regardless, before you know it, you're heaved into "Say You'll Never Leave," which has some of the heaviest guitar Saves The Day has done since "Banned From The Back Porch." This track never lets up, with a back and forth between the guitar and bass in the verse and a catchy chorus with a great chord progression. The bridge is easily the best part, though, as Chris sings "I'll cut out my throat and I'll eat it raw / and drown in the blood as it fills my lungs." Wow.

Next is "Diseased," which features possibly the most memorable melody, as first played by the guitar and then is sung in the verse. Conley demonstrates his vocal versatility in the bridge, alternating between his normal register and a falsetto. My only gripe at this part in the album is that the songs are a bit short, but as previously stated, it brings a sense of powerful urgency to the record. The slowest song follows, "Don't Know Why," which is decidedly the most like anything on "In Reverie," namely "Monkey." It is very similar in tempo to "Monkey," and has backing harmonies and spacey guitars that are akin to the earlier track. This is realized by the band themselves, too, as lyrics from "Monkey" are referenced. In "Monkey," Conley sung "What's up, what is down? / He spun you around," and now in "Don't Know Why," we hear "The world goes round, what was up is again back down," with emphasis on the world "AGAIN." Clearly this is a fully realized self-reference.

The title track starts with an eerie guitar effect, rising into a verse describing despair, loneliness and paranoia of judgment day. When the title "Sound The Alarm" was originally released, I figured it was in the context of that some intense events were about to go down, and to alert the denizens of the land by sounding the alarm, but it is proven here that it is used in a completely different context. "Sound the alarm" is instead used as a last ditch resort with no one coming to his aid, as he sings "...and nobody will sound the alarm." This paves the way into a killer guitar solo by one of the most underrated guitarists alive today, David Soloway. Once the title track ends, it fades away into silence, until the most surprising track begins.

"Bones" is like a mini discography of Saves The Day compacted into one song. It starts with just a simple guitar riff and drums until Manny comes in with a slick bass line. Before the vocals begin, we hear Chris laugh to himself. Without knowing the subject matter, the listener could pass this off simply as a band just having fun, but with knowledge of the underlying storyline, this laugh instead sounds like the psychotic narrator giggling to himself. I previously had said that "Bones" acts as a mini-discography - this is because of the many different styles found in this song alone. It starts out sounding like "Stay What You Are", but then completely changes tempo into and adds a flowing harmony that sounds similar to something that would feel much more at home on "In Reverie," before completely shifting into a speedy punk drum pattern that sounds as if it is ripped straight from "Through Being Cool" or "Can't Slow Down."

"Delusional" is the track of self-actualization. Chris realizes and second guesses himself. First he goes on to tell us that "they" are at the house and ready to kill him, he is sure of this. All night he dreams that "they" are really out to get him, until he has to refute claims of psychosis: "I'm not at all delusional," he exclaims. Throughout the entire album, he has been steadfast and sure of himself that all of this is truly happening, but just now, in the second to last track, he is recognizing the claims of his own insanity. Shortly after his near-self-actualization, the truth is finally revealed in the "told you so" track, "Hell Is Here."

"Look into the sky.
See the flames all rise.
Hell is here at last.

Watching buildings collapse,
bridges buckle and snap.
The city is swallowed by waves.

Say another prayer.
Hoping things will change
Here under the stars."

Regardless of if this is going on in his own mind, or whether it is truly happening to Earth as we know it, this is the apocalypse we've heard about throughout the entire record. The first twelve tracks detailed the storm and those that had potentially survived, and now we hear about the physical destruction of the world. "Sound The Alarm" does not end on a happy note. It ends with the undeniable destruction of everything you have ever known and has to be heard to be believed. It is up to the listener to interpret and decide the ultimate fate of the narrator.

This is the most important record you will hear all year. If you have enjoyed anything Saves The Day has done in the past, "Sound The Alarm" will feel right at home with you. If you've never listened to Saves The Day, remove yourself from your cave and give the new record a listen on April 11th. It will change your life.

reviewed by Matt Whittle