Artist: Bayside
Album: Sirens and Condolences
Label: Victory Records
Rating:
Reviewer: John Frank

I was looking forward to listening this, but a bit worried at the same time. While some great bands have come off of this label, it seems like all the emo stuff coming out recently is just the same thing wrapped in a different label. So why should Bayside be any different than the rest of those bands? I didn't have a lot of knowledge on these guys, since it was the first time I had heard of them, so I figured the only way to find out was to just put the disc in my CD player.

This is pretty different than what I was expecting. The opening chords of "Masterpiece" sound more like they should be on a hardcore or hard rock CD, not another emo album. So at this point I was unsure whether to expect a harder sound than I was used to, or whether this edgy sound was just a fluke at the beginning. Well, at least for the rest of the song, the band did an amazing job of combining the heartfelt lyrics typical of emo, with the harder sounding guitar riffs to produce a sound that is pretty unique.

One thing I was a bit conscientious about was getting my hopes up after the first song: too many discs start off with a bang and just kind of float away into something that is pretty weak. However, Bayside managed to avoid that. Without sounding redundant, the second song abandons the hard opening riff, but keeps the flow of the album with the slow, melodic vocals that carry the tempo of the music. It is hard to describe too much about this album, other than it is emo lyrics with rock guitars. Every song manages to keep the attention of the listener without sounding the same or drifting too far apart to make a coherent album. I am a big fan of the vocal styles of this band, and so the choruses seem to really hit the mark for me.

Generally I like to try to balance out my opinion of a new CD with the likes and dislikes I have, this allows me to get a full sense of whether I will be listening to this in a few months, or if it is just a listen to once, and throw it out disc. “Sirens and Condolences” does not leave much to criticize though. While it does slow down a bit and loses a little energy towards the middle few songs, I would complain if every song was fast and catchy. The album is one of the rare ones that does not have a lot of potentially hit singles, but that is just a good all-around disc to listen to. If a slower, more meaningful rock is one that you listen to, or maybe you just want to check out a band that has some sincere talent, Bayside should definitely not go without a listen.