Southern Air by Yellowcard

I want to start this review by being completely honest with the reader. This album is far and away my favorite album of 2012, and most likely in my top 10 of all time. It's stupid good. The cohesiveness of the tracks is amazing. The lyrical depth is amazing, especially for a pop punk band. And the musicianship is ridiculous.

So instead of gushing about the album as a whole, I'm going to break it down and go song by song with my review.

1. Awakening

This is one of my favorite album openers of all time. I can only think of one I like more, and that's Feeling This by blink-182. It starts with energy, and that carries through the entire song. Catchy, heavy, lyrically relevant and deep, just an all around great song.

2. Surface of the Sun

Simple song. Pretty underwhelming as a whole, but extremely solid. Nice heavy guitar riffing, and Sean Mackin does his thing like normal on the violin. Don't want to call it a filler song, but that's basically what it is.

3. Always Summer

My favorite song off the album, and possibly my favorite Yellowcard song of all time. Mackin absolutely kills the violin solo on the bridge. The guitar riffing is insanely catchy. Ryan Keys' vocal work and lyrics are impeccable. I can't say enough about this song.

4. Here I Am Alive

This song is sugary sweet pop rock. Insanely catchy. Possibly the catchiest song I've ever heard. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy fame has a writing credit on it, and it shows. Got some radio play, which was definitely deserved by this awesome band.

5. Sleep in the Snow

Love the opening riff on this one, along with LP's drums. Makes it feel really epic. This is the kind of Yellowcard song you're used to: one that you just imagine yourself driving around with the windows down listening to. Perfection.

6. A Vicious Kind

Ryan Key's vocal performance on this song blows me away. He does a little falsetto thing in the chorus that will be stuck in your head for a long time, and the pre-chorus is just plain stupid epic. Great performance by him on this song.

7. Telescope

Best mid-tempo song on the album. I really feel like the band figured out how to do the mid-tempo anthems on Lights and Sounds, and this song feels like it could be on that album. Good lyrics, great chorus riff, and as always, Sean Mackin's violin in the background, completing the Yellowcard sound.

8. Rivertown Blues

Now the guys over at Absolute Punk said this was their favorite song off the album and believed it was going to be a hit. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I don't really know what they were talking about. It is a very complete song: good lyrics, upbeat pop-punk drums, decent vocal performance by Ryan, and the ever present violin, but it's probably only my third or fourth track off the album. Definitely worthy of single consideration.

9. Ten

Ten is possibly the saddest song I've ever heard. The beautifully written acoustic guitar laden ballad is about Ryan Keys' unborn son that apparently died in the womb 10 years ago. All about what he would have been like and what his relationship with Ryan would be like today. I'm sure it was incredibly painful for Ryan to write, but I appreciate his honesty and it is definitely one of the highlights of the record.

10. Southern Air

Perfect ending to this record. A song all about the band's Southern roots. Longing for home but still looking ahead, this anthem captures the essence of this record and then just rocks the crap out of it. Amazing.

Score: 10/10

- JL

Dogs Eating Dogs EP by Blink-182

With their second release since returning from hiatus, it’s official: blink-182 is BACK. And I’m not talking about back in the sense that they’re together again, but back in the sense that they’re finally a real band again. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved Neighborhoods , but I think I loved it simply because it meant I was listening to new blink-182 material. It wasn’t really blink-182…

From the opening sounds of the first track, When I Was Young, you can tell that Dogs Eating Dogs is different. While the Angels and Airwaves style synths and effects are still there, it’s definitely not AVA. About 40 seconds in, Travis starts to roll in, and you just know you’re about to take off. Tom’s vocals are spot on (I think he’s finally learned to sing), and Mark’s ever present “rhythm guitar” bass playing style is back. Lyrically, I think this is the strongest they’ve been since Asthenia off of their untitled album. Just an all-around great song. 5 years from now, when blink releases another Greatest Hits album, this will definitely be the song off the EP that makes the cut.

The second (and title) track starts off quick and loud, and Travis just kills it the whole song. In what is probably the quickest tempo on a blink song since Go, the drums are very important, and Travis doesn’t disappoint. The variety in the chorus really helps sets the mood, going from simple tom beats to a more up-tempo beat to accent the lyrics perfectly. And then the song goes into an instrumental bridge, and Travis just starts showing off. Really impressive stuff from him on this song. Guitar and bass work is fairly simple, but it wouldn’t be blink if Travis didn’t show everyone else up on at least one track every album.

Disaster is definitely the most AVA-ish song on the album, with a heavy synth and delayed guitar starting the song. I actually really enjoy how Travis plays along with what could have been a single off of Love, Pt. 2. Atom (AVA’s drummer up until a year ago) always played with a fairly straightforward style, and Travis’ style really gives the songs a poppier feel. Very cool.

The next song, Boxing Day, is semi-acoustic and probably the biggest departure yet from blink’s early days as an immature pop-punk band. While definitely still in the “emo” vein of the untitled album, this song covers a break-up, but from a much more mature place than Enema of the State. Travis’ drumming is surprisingly strong on a song that involves simple picked guitar parts and acoustic guitar strums, and Mark has his best vocal performance of the album on the chorus of this song. You can just really feel the emotion in his voice the whole time.

And possibly my favorite song off the album is the closer, Pretty Little Girls. I honestly hope this is what the next blink album sounds like. Extremely well written lyrics. The epicness of Angels and Airwaves. The poppy feeling of Plus 44. And as always, Travis doing his thing (it’s a mid-tempo song and I still find myself having to take breaks from air drumming to type this out). Simply outstanding. If not for the really weird Yelawolf verse at the end, this would challenge Asthenia and Not Now for the title as my favorite blink song.

Overall, I’m beyond stoked about this EP. I still can’t believe that I’m listening to new blink. If you had told me 5 years ago that blink would be getting back together, I wouldn’t have believed you at all, but I still probably would have crapped myself from excitement. If their next album is anything like this EP, I’ll be extremely satisfied. Just 5 songs released in the middle of December, but it still is probably my second favorite album of 2012.

Score: 9.5/10

- JL