Album Review: Black Lines - Mayday Parade
Gone is the pop-punk Mayday Parade of the past, replaced with a cookie cutter rock band that could easily be overlooked. While it’s true the Floridian band needed something, anything, to replace their tiresome approach for their fifth record, spacey guitar fills and bizarre effects were definitely not it. Strained vocals aim for a harsher sound, yet it comes across as a kitten attempting to roar.
Layer upon layer of instrumental passages create a full textural sound, but softer points are always interrupted by a dynamic driving variation as it moves on. The band would be unrecognizable if not for the slight undertones of similarities to their last album Monsters in the Closet.
It’s a shame Taking Back Sunday and You Me at Six already exist or this album would sound slightly original, but sadly it’s just underwhelming. ‘Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology’, and also keep in mind, they kept the long unpronounceable song titles…so that’s something.
