Search - Saves the Day :: Sound the Alarm

Good, but a step back

J. A. Greb | 10/25/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It disappoints me when I read reviews from people claiming to be huge fans of bands , but who have only listened to one or two albums, or start off with the band's newest album and then criticize the band's previous works. With that said, I've been a Save the Day fan for 6 years, getting hooked on Through Being Cool. As long-time listeners know, Saves the Day has constantly evolved album to album, borrowing elements of certain genres, but still retaining their punk roots.



The funny thing is, with each new release that Saves the Day put out, I found that I immediately hated it upon listening to it for the first time, simply because they kept exploring new sounds. For example, Stay What You Are seemingly was an ironic title for their third album because I had grown used to defining Saves the Day by their punk sound. I couldn't stand the softer "emo" sound they employed, or how Chris Conley's voice had changed. However, over time I grew to appreciate their new, more refined sound and the musical complexity of the songs.



The same held true for In Reverie. Most Saves the Day fans hated this album and I was no exception. After refusing to listen to the cd for almost 6 months, I gave it a try again. Conley's voice had changed yet again and the band seemed to be striving toward a more "indie" sound, which I was not accustomed to. However, after repeated listening to the cd, I realized how amazing it truly was. All of the songs realize the album title, creating a daydream-like state of abstract thought and sounds. The lyrics are as ingenious as they are in Stay What You Are, showing how masterful Conley is as a songwriter. The music is somewhat ecclectic, but is complex and gives the band a truly mature sound. I applauded the band at the time for refusing to deny their musical creativity and create another cookie-cutter album, to sound like their earlier, more acclaimed works, like so many other bands do just to satisfy their bank accounts.



With that in mind, I was really looking forward to Sound the Alarm, wondering where the band would take its sound next. What I found was a little disappointing. Conley's voice has changed yet again, only this time it is more nasaly than ever. I'll admit that his voice is an acquired taste on any of his albums, but he almost sounds like a chipmunk on Sound the Alarm. Overlooking that, I feel that while the songs again contribute to the apocalyptic theme "Sound the Alarm" in the same way they contributed to the dreamy theme in "In Reverie," the music itself took a step backward. Dark, brooding and even violent at times, the music seemingly doesn't fit with the lyrics at times. It seems like they have reverted back to the simplistic punk chords and riffs that dominated Can't Slow Down and Through Being Cool. Maybe they were trying to recapture a harder sound, I don't know. But I really think that they were better served continuing in the direction that In Reverie was leading them. I still appreciate the lyrics and there are a few songs that demonstrate Saves The Day's musical talent, but overall I felt the album is mediocre compared to their other recent efforts."

A great addition to Saves the Day's history

Seville | Chicago | 12/21/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Another Saves the Day album, another shouting match between old-time fans who don't want their high-school memories tainted with challenges to their indecipherable "punk-cred" agendas, and self-anointed "mature" fans who bizarrely consider themselves intellectually superior to the "little people" just because a particular CD happens to appeal to their subjective musical taste. We're both right. And wrong. Look, most people pick the first album they ever heard by a band as their favorite. I for one am squarely in the camp who likes everything STD has ever done, but who am I to say that makes me a "better" fan than somebody who wishes they were still making "Through Being Cool?" Those fans are as passionate as I am about Saves the Day... maybe more... and it's shortsighted and just plain rude to dismiss their palpable nostalgia and emotional pleas for a return to form as crocodile tears. The old-school fans, I've noticed, rarely lower themselves to attacking fans of the newer Saves the Day... their laments are aimed squarely at their former favorite band.



"Sound the Alarm" isn't a return to form. How could it be? "Stay What You Are" is *the* album that will forever define Saves the Day and modern emo itself. It's already one of the most memorable and lasting albums of the 2000's. It will never be topped, by Saves the Day or any other emo band... they could only hope to equal it. With that foolish ambition wisely out of the way, "Sound the Alarm" does manage to remind you of STD's pre-"In Reverie" past while still striking off in new directions... no easy feat, when you think about it.



I for one loved the vocals on "In Reverie," a gutsy and smart gamble that would've expanded Saves the Day's emotional appeal if Dreamworks had survived to actually support that CD. I'm equally thrilled with Chris' voice on "Sound the Alarm." From the first plosive "B" that sets "Head for the Hills" and the album in motion, he's out to prove that he never ceded the territory he dominated on "Stay What You Are" and "Through Being Cool," he just took a little vacation. But his "return" to this style is, as usual, on Chris' own terms... he actually sounds younger than he did on previous albums, if that's possible. The maturity and confidence he delivers here is a different story. His vocal on "Don't Know Why," the emotional centerpiece of the album, might be the most intense of his recorded career.



The band also sounds fantastic on this record, tight as a drum. You really feel the friendship and the mutual respect for each other's musicianship in the performance, partly because Steve Evett's production (he also did "Through Being Cool") has a subtle "recorded live in the room" element. While I wouldn't ever want to forget departing bassist Eben D'amico's contribution to Saves the Day, his replacement Manny Carrero makes the transition just about seamless. The diminished seven-position chord the band discovered on "Cars and Calories" and sprinkled sweetly throughout "In Reverie" is also all over "Sound the Alarm," this time in service of heavier, darker material like "Hell is Here," "Head for the Hills" and "Diseased." This gives the album just the slightest metal feel for flavor, and recalls "Through Being Cool" without retreading the exact same sound. The only blatant musical reprise is "34," a waltz that's a little more "Wednesday the Third" than "What Went Wrong" and successfully recasts the ¾ time signature into this new, darker context.



One area that does retread the past too closely is "Sound the Alarm"'s lyrics. Chris re-uses a few old metaphors: feet bleed from sheer exhaustion and eyeballs are again swallowed for dinner. Before, I always took Chris' poetic mutilation of the body as an imaginative, even playful metaphor for mind over matter: the perpetual daydreamer struggling to overcome the confines of the corporal body. But on "Sound the Alarm," it's difficult to interpret all the flesh-shredding and bloodletting any other way but literally. The body has become a hellish prison, and Chris is getting too old for recreational drug use or casual sex to sufficiently liberate the mind from the ways of the flesh. This hurts lighter songs like "Dying Day" or "Bones." "Bones" is the only song I outright don't like because it tries to be three songs at once, which is two too many as far as I'm concerned.



In the end "Sound the Alarm" is another satisfying and listenable chapter in the Saves the Day catalog. Typically strong melodies abound and the band's energy and delivery throughout are awesome. There are some truly great moments like "Don't Know Why" and the unique "Hell is Here." It doesn't quite achieve greatness because it's neither as ambitious as "In Reverie" nor as transcendent as "Stay What You Are," but its greatest virtue is that it knows better than to even try to replace the band's past glories. However *you* feel about Saves the Day is your business, and you're entitled to it, but I think you and I have one thing in common: with each new release, we'll always give these guys another chance to wow us.

"

An excellent album

dan | Livonia, MI | 08/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm going to start this off by saying that a lot of people have said they don't like this because it's not "classic Saves the Day." Here's my thing with that: artists let themselves progress and grow as they work, but still leave little touches that remind everyone that it's them, and that's exactly what Saves the Day did. They have the driving energy on this album, though the music is darker, but they've always had a little bit of a dark touch to them, always using complex and darker chords, even if it's only really brief and subtle in some songs. That is the only "classic" Saves the Day sound I can think of. Aside from that, if when people say "classic" they mean "the way Stay What You Are or Through Being Cool sounded like," then they should only listen to one of those albums and stop complaining about their new stuff (though I see absolutely nothing to complain about).



All of that aside, I think Sound the Alarm is an awesome album. In Reverie was a great turning point for STD musically, and thank god for that, because it lead to this CD. I'm a huge fan of this band, and am pretty preferrential to Stay What You Are, personally, but none of their music has ever let me down, and this is definitely one of their best albums. STD has grown quite a bit since they've started out, you can tell just by listening to all of their CDs, and though they all are great, their are differences in every single one; they don't all sound alike, and that's what's so great about this band. If you're a true fan of Saves the Day's music, then this is definitely a great album to buy, it's one of their best.



P.S. The End, Bones, and Delusional are three of the sweetest tracks. Enjoy!"