Music Review: Paramore - Brand New Eyes

It seems that many people in this world — the ones that at least halfway appreciate music, that is — have their own personal soundtrack: an album that the listener feels expresses them best. A personal soundtrack is, of course, subject to change without notice — especially with age.

A few years back, every moody teenage girl and her brother were clinging to the works of Evanescence. Shortly thereafter, Evanescence became the fad of yesterday. The younger generation who once regarded them as godlike started to grow up. The personal soundtrack needed a makeover.

Flash-forward a couple of years. A figure of towering godliness to Emo kids everywhere, Paramore has blasted their way to the top of the charts since the release of their second album, Riot! in 2007 — a release that went Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand.

MTV actually went as far as to not broadcast their lame Reality Shows in order to promote the band (they might have even aired a music video or two, but that’s entirely implausible and hard to prove). And then, the prominent inclusion of their moody-yet-powerful single, “Decode,” on the motion picture soundtrack of Twilight practically instilled them as a household name. And thus, Paramore albums started to become the average youth’s choice for a personal soundtrack.

So, how does the band’s third album, Brand New Eyes, hold up? Not well, in my opinion. Of course, I’m not a teenager anymore, either, so that might have something to do with it.

Fortunately, though, the album is not a complete bust. In fact, it kicks off like a motherfucker. A dynamic ditty by the name of “Careful” opens the album up, which is in-turn followed by the hit single, “Ignorance.” And then comes “Playing God,” a song that has the right feel, the right sound — the right lyrics, even — yet it doesn’t manage to pull its own self off very well. Two more better-than-average tracks, “Brick By Boring Brick” and “Turn It Off,” give the illusion that the album is moving along quite fantastically.

Article Author: Luigi Bastardo

Luigi Bastardo is the disgruntled alter-ego of Adam Becvar, a thirtysomething lad from Northern California who has watched so many weird movies since the tender age of 3 that a conventional life is out of the question. …

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