All American Rejects - When the World Comes Down
There’s something irresistible about a candy store. All that sticky sweet goodness that hooks you in challenges you to sample each piece of shiny, coloured confectionary. But after a few bites, the appeal is gone and there is a sickly hollow at the pit of your stomach that makes you regret ever stepping foot in there.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma’s All American Rejects, their third album ‘When the World Comes Down’ fails to find the balance between pleasurable treat and overindulgence.
Filled with infectious melodies and punchy beats, the album sucks you in right off the bat with the painfully catchy ‘I Wanna’. The sugar rush continues with perfectly manicured pop anthems ‘Fallin Apart’, ‘Gives You Hell’ and ‘Real World’. However the perky pop gets old faster than it’s contagious beat and by the forth track your begging for the salad bar.
‘Mona Lisa’, the only acoustic track on the album (that also spawned the record’s title), is the perfect breather but its folksy style feels out of place on this fast driving record about the toils of teenage love.
Album highlight ‘Another Heart Calls’ is a 1980’s style power ballad starring the guest vocals of Catherine and Allison Pierce. Its enchanting choral layers laced with delicate string sections perfectly set the tone that the rest of the album lacked.
‘When the World Comes Down’ is an incredibly radio friendly pop record that will have the kids doing the pogo in the pit at shows all around the world. The production is tight and each track stands alone with all the ingredients of a great radio single. But as a record, it is a little too much to stomach in one sitting.
{ 1 trackback }