Album: Anywhere But Here
Artist: Mayday Parade
Release: October 6th/2009
Label: Fearless Records
Producer: David Bendeth

Tracks:

1. “Kids in Love” – 3:36
2. “Anywhere but Here” – 3:09
3. “The Silence” – 3:35
4. “Still Breathing” – 3:52
5. “Bruised and Scarred” – 3:23
6. “If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?” – 3:38
7. “Save Your Heart” – 3:42
8. “Get Up” – 3:03
9. “Center of Attention” – 3:01
10. “I Swear This Time I Mean It” – 4:01
11. “The End” – 3:37

Bonus Tracks:

12. “So Far Away”
13. “The Memory”

“Anywhere But Here” is Mayday Parade’s second full-length out on Fearless Records, and their first without guitarist and secondary vocalist Jason Lancaster. For the fans who enjoyed his blatant mispronunciations of many words and deeper yet similar vocal approach in comparison to lead singer Derek Sanders’, than you may not enjoy this album as much as their last. With the same basic Mayday Parade songwriting formula, catchy sing-a-long vocals and different approach to the pop-punk genre that has gotten them where they are, their still very much the same band, but with a different spin on their sophomore album.

The songs are all much “poppier”, but are very catchy. There are no songs that really leap off the album to be as powerful or intense as some of their previous songs were, but overall, the album is strong. Despite the albums poppiness, many of the songs have a down vibe to them, such as their second single, “The Silence”, which sounds like it could be straight off an Emery record. The also album lacks a bit of the technicality that their previous efforts had. The drums are much simpler and less creative, and the guitar work is more straight-forward, but that doesn’t go to say that the album is badly written. Its quite the opposite of bad.

Being a Mayday Parade fan for a while now, I’ve seen the band grow from their first EP and onward, and overall, “Anywhere But Here” seems to be their best effort to date. Some songs are stronger and overall better than others, but its an incredibly catchy and addictive album. Its very easy to get into with easily relatable lyrics, catchy choruses that make your hand subconsciously hit the repeat button, and last but not least, intelligent musicianship that isn’t trying to fit in with so many other cookie-cutter bands of the same genre.

Mayday Parade is a band who is definitely playing music for the right reasons and are doing it the way they want, and that is the best way to do it if you want to be successful and respected in the music scene. Mayday Parade are doing just that.