Review: Yellowcard – Ocean Avenue
So there’s a track on the Spiderman 2 soundtrack, and it goes a bit like this:
Starting off with some heavy guitars, halfway through the intro the fiddle kicks in. A soothing line that keeps the harsh guitar violence in check. The lyrics are sung with a dramatic layer, and the meaning of the words finishes it off. After 2 verses it’s time to throw in the bridge, and the piano takes you in, with the violin taking the lower notes, guiding various other string instruments towards a musical climax that leaves an emotional mark no matter how you listen to it. So far for Yellowcard’s Gifts and Curses.
Now enter Ocean Avenue, last year’s album:
While no track on this album matches the ingenuity of Gifts and Curses, overall, it’s an upbeat rock album, that luckily combines more string based instruments to add an extra dimension to most of their songs. A few songs almost border punk rock, but the singer keeps to his normal voice, keeping it more down to earth. Most of the moody rock songs are carry simple straight forward lyrics, leaving no room for any deeper meaning. Nonetheless, every single song will stand out easily in any rock playlist you’ll put together, making it worthwile addition to any album collection, even though your speakers probably couldn’t sustain prolonged sessions of this music. And if it can, then it will be the neighbours complaining.8+.