JUST SURRENDER / if these streets could talk

reviewed date: 07/19/05
reviewed by: suJ
rating: 8/10

THE REVIEW:

Just Surrender, formally known as A Second Chance, are deadset on becoming your new favorite band. With their debut album If These Streets Could Talk being paraded about through Warner’s Brothers sub label Broken English, Just Surrender will in time make their presence felt in your growing collection of compact disc and steer you away from utter boredom.

Just Surrender is a super hybrid of the best and brightest in today’s scene, think a combination of Taking Back Sunday's "Tell All Your Friends" and "Where You Want to be" with a touch of Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue" and Armor for Sleep's "What to Do When Your Dead." The album leaps into the air like bird flapping its wings for the first time and feeling that tangible feeling that this is where I want to be. Everything is melodic as it is intense, everything is emotional as it is profound, and for the most part it is as if Adam Lazzara and John Nolan (of Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run fame) patched things up and crafted together this wildly infectious atomic bomb of music.

"Tell Me Everything" is the album's first single and it fits the mold of what a pop/emo/punk song is suppose to be which is a song about love lost with an upbeat tempo. The music blends perfectly with the vocals which come off crisp and clear. Then there is "Our Work of Art" which begins with soft spoken vocals over the strumming of a plugged guitar then grows into a burgeoning landscape with a killer breakdown sung by the John Nolan doppelganger Dan Simons. "You Tell a Tale" starts off with some heavy and edgy riffs then its tempo forays into different moods until a barrage of intense screams from the aforementioned Dan Simons closes the tune off. "Is There Any Truth in Beauty" gives its listener a softer side with a pleasing acoustic track. The final tune "She Broke My Heart So I Broke His Jaw" is a joyous onslaught to your ears with its melodic screams that come from here, there, and everywhere.

Lyrically, these guys have tackle the typical topics like lost love, lies and heartache, but have written about these human trails and tribulations in a new and fresh way that doesn’t leave you feeling like you just finished chewing someone else’s gum. Vocally, they’ve nailed the dual vocalist, harmonized and synchronized ups and downs that make this style of music that much more pleasurable. They’re confident and strong, yet soft and sincere.

If you liked any of the Bands that I named dropped you'll surely dig Just Surrender. And like I stated in this reviews opening lick, Just Surrender are deadset on becoming your new favorite band.