Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 8.0
Production: 8.5
Originality: 7.0
Tracklisting
2. Fighting
3. Shrink the World
4. Keeper
5. Light Up the Sky
6. Shadows and Regrets
7. Five Becomes Four
8. Afraid
9. Date Line (I Am Gone)
10. Dear Bobbie
11. You and Me and One Spotlight
12. Cut Me, Mick
13. Paper Walls
I have been arguing with the thought on what new CD would come out this summer making me feel like summer is actually here. An album with all the songs needed to survive these next couple of months- songs about heartbreak and dreaming and all the other thoughts our young generation experiences. Yellowcard’s new album “Paper Walls” might just be it. “Paper Walls” is packed with songs that while listening you won’t be able to stop tapping your feet and afterwards, won’t be able to get out of your head. I couldn’t help but feel that these boys are bringing old school back! (sorry for the Timberlake reference…)
The Good: The album starts off with a song titled “The Takedown” about not turning your back on someone that showed off the true spirit of Yellowcard with Ryan Key’s distinctive vocals and a common catchy chorus. Songs like “Fighting” (my favorite song on the album), “Five Becomes Four” and “Cut Me Mick” display Yellowcard’s pop punk sound to a T, and bring back what their past album “Lights and Sounds” definitely lacked. “Fighting” has the violin that makes their songs so original and has great lyrics such as, “What am I fighting for/There must be something more/For all these words I sing/Do you feel anything/What am I fighting for?” “Five Becomes Four” is reminiscent of their album “Ocean Avenue” and “Cut Me Mick” is an instant hit. They also slow it down on some tracks such as “Keeper” and “Shadows and Regrets.” Most of the album’s songs are truly good songs with less than few fillers (You and Me and One Spotlight, Shadows and Regrets.) The music stays true to the Yellowcard sound but brings in more serious lyrics such as in song “Afraid,” when Key sings “I am afraid right now/What if I can’t get out/What if I don’t want to be saved/This is me afraid…” The slightly country sounding track “Dear Bobbie” also stuck out with some piano that usually isn’t featured in this band’s tracks and sweet hearted lyrics, “When I die, then I die loving you …”
The Bad: The only thing I had a problem with was the lack of violin on this album that Yellowcard is so well known for. You can hear it faintly in some tracks, but it didn’t fulfill the craving that I was searching for. The heavy violin solos in songs on the album “Ocean Avenue” really made this pop punk band stick out when they could just be another dime a dozen that hail from sunny Florida. A slap on the wrist for the Yellowcard fellas- give Sean Mackin back some violin spotlight!
The Obvious: "Paper Walls" is clearly a well put together album. It still doesn’t achieve the greatness of “Ocean Avenue,” but brings back what they heavily lacked on “Lights and Sounds,” and that’s all that matters. If you learn to compromise with the slight changes, it’ll tickle your pop punk taste buds all summer long.