CD: Words Of Sound Artist: Love In October Label: Musik Group Rating: 3/5 Best Song: 1000 Miles From Here Reviewer: Bobby Gorman

Pop-punk is a very tricky thing. From the many different styles of pop-punk ranging from bands like Blink182 to The Lawrence Arms and even Fall Out Boy to the fear of being a generic pop-punk rip-off band with no real catch, a new pop-punk band always has numerous hurdles they need to jump over. And now with pop-punk slowly fading out to make way for the screamo wave, it's harder and harder to find a new pop-punk act. However, I still have a weak spot for the poppy melodies of pop-punk bands and I'm always happy to find a new one I enjoy and despite the fact that Love In October follows the pop-punk guidelines almost too perfectly, Words of Sound is still a surprisingly entertaining pop-punk EP.

With catchy, and slightly boyish vocals, Love In October play a style of pop-punk that became famous around the turn of the century thanks to groups like New Found Glory (Sticks and Stones era), Rock Kills Kid (Self-titled) and Plain White T's (All That We Needed / Stop). The only slightly innovative thing they have is the addition of the keyboard melodies, but with acts like The Appreciation Post, Hellogoodbye and Motion City Soundtrack making waves these days, the keyboard isn't that new anymore. Despite that it isn't the most original band or creative sound to come out of Minnesota, Words of The Sound is solid enough in it's musical style and confident enough to pass as an enjoyable release to any pop-punk lover.

Method to Madness is an energetic, two-minute track that is propelled by dueling and overlapping vocals creating a sound that is so very familiar but also unique to itself. While it does do the necessary drop down to a whisper before exploding back into the final verse, it doesn't seem forced or contrieved like it does for so many bands. Words Of Sound is lead by a heavy guitar riff and vocals akin to Jupiter Sunrise while the album closer, Don't Ask Me, is a much sparser track built on airy guitar melodies and vocals floating carefully on top.

The most annoying aspect of this album is the ten minute spout of silence between Don't Ask Me and the bonus track, 1000 Miles From Here (which isn't really a bonus track since it's listed on the back cover...). The ten minute silence ruins the flow of the album and becomes very very annoying because you don't want to have to put in the energy to fast forward over it and it's boring to wait for the entire ten minutes which means that you normally skip over the track which is disappointing in itself since 1000 Miles From Here is similar to early Yellowcard and one of the highlights of the release.

Really, this album doesn't offer you anything new, but it doesn't need to. It's just a simple, enjoyable, piece of pop-punk tomfoolery and open minded pop-punk fans will enjoy it.