For the past ten years, Tallahassee-natives Mayday Parade have been pumping catchy, emotional pop-punk into the alternative music scene. Through hits such as “Three Cheers for Five Years” and “Miserable at Best”, Derek Sanders and company have poured their hearts out into emotional lyrics and soaring melodic lines that evoke sadness and exasperation from their audiences, taking the listener by the hand and letting them know, “you are not alone.”
With their new full length album, Black Lines, Mayday Parade has taken that same message, but has attacked it from a different angle. This time around, they are a little more angry and aggressive, instead of sad and desperate. Starting with the first track, “One of Them Will Destroy the Other,” Mayday Parade delivers high tension vocals and guitars, with pounding drums that only let up for the occasional ballad. Producer Mike Sapone (who also produced albums by Taking Bach Sunday, Brand New, etc.) used his experience with other alternative/emo bands to help them achieve the grittier, edgier sound that the band was striving towards on this album.
From the first track to the last, this album is both a departure and a return for Mayday Parade. They isolated themselves from the rest of the world, including their friends, family, and label executives, and found an aggressive, emotional, and honest sound that they have been searching for since their debut.
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88.3 WDCV.
Author Jonathan Northridge is an avid defender of pop/punk, plays guitar in an Irish folk band, and can beat anybody at Guitar Hero. Check out his show, Head Above Water, on 88.3 WDCV.
