Mayday Parade's Anywhere But Here Review

Tracklist:
1. Kids in Love
2. Anywhere But Here
3. The Silence
4. Still Breathing
5. Bruised and Scarred
6. If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
7. Save Your Heart
8. Get Up
9. Center of Attention
10. I Swear This Time I Mean It
11. The End


Release Date: 10/06/2009

Call me insensitive but breaking up isn't that hard to do. Yes, there are the few legitimate relationships that end for legitimate reasons but other than that you've got the bunch of shallow, puppy love, waste of time couples that only compare themselves to the real young loves because someone brain washed them into thinking they were “one of the lucky ones” or “the couple who would make it through anything” or any other various crap society feeds our generation today about love and its disintegrating border with lust. Of course, the pop punk genre uses these mindless couples and their “heartbreak” as the arsenal for their hits. Most bands of the genre today do a less than perfect job and with so much competition you'd be lucky to hear anything unique. Luckily in 2007 a stunning album by the Tallahassee, Florida based band Mayday Parade entitled A Lesson In Romantics was released on Fearless Records.

Mayday Parade has been one of the most popular bands of the genre since and their new album Anywhere But Here has been preceded with much anticipation and high expectations. When two of its tracks were released near end of summer I was introduced to a new sound with primary songwriter Jason Lancaster gone. Lead vocals Derek Sanders gave a less than thrilling performance in the track “Anywhere but Here”, however “The Silence” was a refreshing change from tracks on Romantics. The catchy light moments have been replaced with sincerity and a dark undercurrent which is nothing to complain about.

Now with the full album release today on Atlantic Records I can say with even more confidence that A Lesson In Romantics was indeed a tough act to follow. Lancaster leaving the band honestly has set them back tremendously to their own standards yet only a minor setback with the rest of the genre's contemporaries. Tracks like “Get Up” and “Center of Attention” belong on an All Time Low record instead of the emotional Anywhere But Here. Keeping with that general mood, “Save Your Heart” and “Still Breathing”, while not as emotionally gripping as the ballad-esque tracks on Romantics, still help the band excel in their instrumental maturity. Unfortunately the instrumentation takes the backseat to the vocals that I just cannot seem to shake. I truly miss the balance each vocalist gave the other appropriately and its clear there is no return of that with this album.

As I continue to compare Anywhere But Here to its brilliant predecessor I must comment on “Kids in Love”. Honestly the worst track on the album and a poor choice as its opener indeed. Nothing in comparison to “Jamie All Over” that is, and certainly not the first thing I'd want to hear when downloading the album (or for you prehistorics popping the CD in the player). The songs vomit-inducing lyrical cliches and demeaning similarity to the mass of Mayday's competition makes it shameful to the once honorable quintet.

All in all, Anywhere But Here is the record bands like Boys Like Girls and All Time Low wish they could make, however, it lacks the quality I expect from this band and it's past mastery of the genre. The absence of Lancaster's songwriting genius and sorely missed vocals will be a significant let down to familiar fans however newcomers should enjoy this record especially if they fall under that wish-they-had-a-legitimate-breakup/relationship-in-the-first-place-to-cry-about category. I respect Mayday and they'll always be one of my favorites of the seemingly doomed genre but I think I'll stick with their older albums because - and I say this in the most appropriate way I could find - Anywhere But Here in my opinion is, Miserable At Best.