ATP! Album Review: The Story So Far - What You Don't See
As a result, it falls fouls of all the perils any highly anticipated album - many fans and critics will have made their minds up about this already, whether they pre-love or pre-loathe it.
Those at the love end of the spectrum are closer to the mark. TSSF have tightened their songwriting to within an inch of its life. Gone is the fat that occasionally marred USAD with overlong tracks, but oddly the leaner result lacks some of the punch of their debut.
Opener 'Things I Can't Change' is strong, but doesn't hit as hard as 'Roam' did last time around. In truth, whilst this retains the hardcore influenced pop-punk sound of USAD, it never quite goes for the throat like last time.
Part of this is Parker Cannon's vocals. His voice is deeper and more powerful than last time, but his delivery more considered, less flowing and incessant. On tracks like 'Small Talk', 'Empty Space' and, in particular, 'The Glass' (check the ending) his focus on melody really pays off, but leaves songs like 'Right Here' and 'Playing the Victim' the tracks end up forgettable as a result.
Production has obviously stepped up since their debut, and you can tell they had Steve Klein on board for this. Never before has New Found Glory's presence been more keenly felt. This is absolutely not a bad thing, but it does mean that the album runs the risk of running with the pop-punk pack where, until now at least, the band has forged out on their own in terms of their hyper-aggressive approach.
To put it simply, What You Don't See is a very good album. Leaner but not necessarily meaner, with more of a traditional pop-punk feel than USAD did, dealing more with melody than all out attack. On the majority of the tracks the result is impressive, but a few disappointing cuts just prevents this from being the masterpiece many hoped it would be. Still, this is a mature effort that shows TSSF grown over the last few years.
4/5
James Tremain
What You Don't See will be released on 26th March via Pure Noise Records.
