Saves the Day'In Reverie'Dreamworks Records
Let's get straight to the point. "In Reverie" is an OK album. If anyone else made this CD, it would be a far more impressive achievement, but for Saves the Day, it's a letdown.
Since they began, the group has been consistently amazing and have only improved with each release, a trend that has unfortunately come to an end.
The band's first release, "Can't Slow Down," was simply a punk rock affair, but it was singer/guitarist Chris Conley's teenage angst that made it a classic debut. With songs about breaking into girls' houses to sing them songs, Conley became the skinny poster child for anyone with a heart.
It was their unbelievable second album, "Through Being Cool," that turned them into underground legends. Somehow, the band managed to turn the often generic, boring genre of pop punk into an emotional roller coaster with heartfelt lyrics while remaining harder and faster than their contemporaries.
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But then the group broke rank. On their fourth album, "Stay What You Are," the band did nothing of the sort. Conley's voice sounded like it went through reverse puberty, and the power chords were left behind in favor of an indie rock style more akin to the Pixies than Green Day.
Anyone that gave the record a chance, however, quickly realized that the album was just as good as anything else the band had released.
Over the course of four albums, the group grew from angry teenagers to a fully realized rock band, all without missing a beat.
"In Reverie" is another radical departure for the band. The shock that stemmed from the transition of "TBC" to "SWYA" is nothing compared to this, and this time the shock isn't always a good thing. Although, "SWYA" cleaned up the distortion, the edge remained. Songs about anorexia and despair found Conley comparing himself to a rotting piece of meat and imagining himself being thrown out with the trash.
"In Reverie," on the other hand, is much more optimistic and hopeful. It's not that happiness is bad, it's just that Conley's unique outlook on himself on the world was by far the most interesting part of the band. His once deep, metaphorical lyrics have been mostly replaced by one-dimensional schlock.
To make matters worse, Conley's once powerful vocal delivery has been replaced by a thin, nasally version of its former self.
The album isn't a complete letdown, however. Although some of the melodies are too sugary for their own good, the songs are still absurdly catchy (in a good way), and the group's dark side can still be found on standout tracks like "Monkey" (a leftover from "SWYA") and the driving "Where Are You," which is actually one of the heaviest tracks the band has ever recorded.
However, exceptions such as these don't come often, and they're always reminiscent of what the band used to sound like, hence being a constant reminder of why the rest of the songs just don't cut it.
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Once again, don't mistake "In Reverie" for a bad album. If anyone else made it, this review would be far more positive. It was hard to imagine where the band could go from "SWYA" while still keeping up their winning streak, and obviously the group couldn't quite decide on how to do it either.
For first-time listeners, "In Reverie" is a great introduction to the magic of Saves the Day, but for old fans, prepare for disappointment.
(Three stars out of five).
Luke Slisz is a senior at John Marshall High School. To respond to reviews in Sound &; Vision, call 252-1111, category TEEN (8336); write Teen Beat, Post-Bulletin, P.O. Box 6118, Rochester, MN 55903-6118 or send e-mail to teenbeat@postbulletin.com.
