Review: Mayday Parade - Mayday Parade

 Mayday Parade. Apparently there's a lot to be said about the Florida quintet. I'm not so sure. Personally, I find it difficult to really identify anything new they've brought to the modern pop punk table, apart from an increased number of dreary emo pop ballads. But it goes without saying that the emo pop crowd somehow have managed to become a bizarre force in the world of big-selling rock music, so they can't exactly be dismissed, even though the album we're looking at today came out about six months ago.

 So Mayday Parade found themselves at a loss in 2009 following the release of their second album Anywhere But Here which saw mass criticisms from fans of their debut release A Lesson In Romantics mainly due to a weakening in songwriting after the band had little part in the songwriting after producers at Atlantic Records decided the band would be unable to write any songs without the original songwriting talent of the group Jason Lancaster. What resulted where songs with little input from the actual band, songs which the band "didn't really care about."
 And so, with their self-titled album, the group have sailed away from the large-selling tides of the Atlantic and are drawing out the lyrical maps for themselves. Yeah. And now that the group have regained control, the music feels much more authentic and much more real. Needless to say, there's nothing on this album that reinvents rock music in any way and songs like Oh Well, Oh Well and Call Me Hopeless, but Not Romantic take perfect advantage of the classic formula to making a perfect pop rock hit, mixing hooky choruses with emo laced verses which are very much softened and have some piano accompaniment to add some extra emotion to help convey the atmosphere of bitter romantic tragedy.
 That's not to say there's always sadness involved within the album. Songs like Priceless and A Shot Across the Bow pack a much more adrenaline packed rush of pop punk with the tearaway uplifting romantic lyrics. Is it fully satisfying musically though? That's debatable. It ultimately ends up sounding like A Day To Remember Lite.
 Lyrically, the content of this album is too sickeningly romantic and soppy to even begin considering. With lines like Stay's "If you believe that everything's alright/ You won't be alone tonight/ I'd be blessed by the light of your company/ Slowly lifting me to somewhere new" and the more twisted "And even if it's dark at least we'll be together/ Slowly sinking in the earth to lay forever" found on Without the Bitter, the Sweet Isn't As Sweet, it's clear that Mayday Parade are clearly looking to hit the totally do-lally romantic fools with their lyrics.
 In a sense, this album is great - it's great for what it is and what it is is just another album by another band that got popular from the emo rock trend of the mid 2000s and continue to show their strength in playing it today. And if you enjoy this kind of thing, this album is in many ways a modern essential. But it's hard to think of any other reason why it'll blow anyone away.

 Mayday Parade's Mayday Parade is out now via Independent Label Group. The band will tour the UK from March-April with You Me At Six, Kids In Glass Houses and The Skints and will play The Slam Dunk Festival at Leeds University Union and The University of Hertfordshire in May.