Warning: do not listen to "Sound the Alarm," Saves The Day's new album, while holding any sharp objects, standing near open windows, or taking a bath with a toaster in reach.
Saves the Day (STD... really) has a new album darker than anything the band has produced to date. STD, consisting of band members Chris Conley, Pete Parada, David Soloway and newcomer Manny Carrero, has slowly climbed the ladder of the emo touring scene through partnerships with major bands such as Green Day, Weezer and Dashboard Confessional. "Sound the Alarm" is STD's fifth album, their first since 2003's mixed bag, "In Reverie." With their latest album, STD let their depression run wild in what can only be described as a climax of their previous works.
"Sound the Alarm"'s punk-rock sound will be familiar to old fans. The musical compositions possess a clean studio feel despite heavily distorted guitars, strong bass lines and overly dramatic, whining vocals.
The lyrics on each song truly give this album an abysmal and suicidal overtone. The words fall in and out of different rhyming patterns at the author's convenience. The number of syllables being sung often does not fit the music, which causes an awkward delivery.
On previous albums, STD has always seen the glass as half-empty, being only slightly pessimistic about everything in the world. The lyrics on every song from "Sound the Alarm," however, are a new high (or low?) in terms of their darkness and anger.
Chris Conley, the lyricist and vocalist for STD, is that crazy guy that everyone hears about; you know, the one who dates a girl for a week and a half and then completely loses his mind when she dumps him? His gloomy imagery on each track is that of a
suicidal lunatic and each poetic rant could be aimed at a woman who broke his heart.
The only cure for a broken heart is clearly articulated by the morose Conley. Songs like "Shattered" and "The End" describe numerous ways in which he wants to torture and kill himself; for example, he'd like to break his own ribs with a wrench and hold a live grenade in his mouth.
"The End" is also awkwardly constructed; it seems the band switches tempos on a whim. The song begins extremely fast, but the middle unexpectedly breaks into a slow and comparatively depressing rhythm. Like those of many of the other songs, the cadence of "The End" lacks consistency and gives listeners an uneven feeling.
"Eulogy" deals with death as well - surprise, surprise. But this time, it's the death of someone Conley loved, rather than his own demise. But Conley isn't one to reminisce about the good times he may have shared with the deceased; instead, he offers to "carve out [his] lungs" just to see his loved one again. Then, he says he'll dig his own grave and wait for death.
As depressed as Conley is, he has enough energy to settle a few scores, so the carnage on this disc is not just of the self-inflicted variety. The song "Head For The Hills" has the singer dreaming about setting fire to everything in sight, and he ends the track with, "My heart is burning black / My bones are cold and cracked / The venom flushed out my veins / And if you ever knew what I was dreaming of / You would head for the hills." The lyrics almost rhyme and almost fit the music, but I'm sure Conley was too distraught to worry about things like that.
When STD plays an upbeat song, the always-dejected lyrics create disarray that causes an inconsistent balance. It's almost as if STD listened to Top 40, changed the rhythms of a couple songs, and substituted their own melodramatic, suicidal lyrics.
Sans vocals, however, there is a lot of solid, well played music to be found on "Sound the Alarm" - oddly constructed, but well played, even though the songs have a pop feel to them that every other up-and-coming emo band shares.
If you do decide to get the album, just try not to listen to the lyrics too closely, because this album will put a perfectly happy individual into the depths of despair.
