Album: Crossroads
Release Date: 17/02/2014
My Favourite Runner Up are a five piece rock band from Wales, and if you haven’t heard of them yet…. well you’re missing out!
The album opens up with ‘Light A Fire‘, its really up beat and pop-punk at its core. The second the vocals kick in there is something familiar about them, they could almost be those of Take This To Your Grave era Patrick Stump. It’s something different that we haven’t heard since 2005 and the Fall Out Boy fan in me is freaking out.
The second track on the album ‘Poison‘ could have been a part of any Fall Out Boy album (pre-hiatus). They are just proving that they are part of a scene and know exactly what they are doing.
‘Never Again’ has a different feel and you can really hear the New Found Glory coming through in this track. It’s slower then a lot of the track on the album but they execute it perfectly, the drum and guitar parts do sound a lot like a slowed down version of ‘Poppin’ Champagne’ by All Time Low, bringing in familiarity but at the same time it sounds very different.
‘Love Comes First’, ‘No More Fight’, ‘Your Own Worst Enemy’ and ‘Storytelling’ all have that pop-punk vibe to them, they sound amazing and really show the bands skill. but they all still have that early Fall Out Boy feel to them, its really making me so nostalgic for the older Fall Out Boy albums.
Title track ‘Crossroads’ has a really mellow intro more like one of the slower New Found Glory tracks and its a welcomed change from the previous tracks. Finishing on ‘Home’, again on of the slightly slower tracks but it brings back a sense of nostalgia. In a way its your typical pop-punk tracks with the ‘not getting out of this town’ vibe to it but I still really love this track.
All in all this is a great album, and if you’re a fan Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, New Found Glory or any of that kind of band then these guys might be one of your new favourite bands!
8/10
Reviewer: Kayla Elliott
