Bayside – Self-Titled

I was never really a fan of Bayside. In all honesty, I hadn’t heard much by them, but the songs I had heard were special. But since so many people seemed to really like them, especially a few friends of mine, I thought I should give their new Self-titled release a shot. On my first listen, I wrote the CD off entirely. I couldn’t stand Anthony Raneri’s vocals, so I put the CD to the back for a few days. Nevertheless, I figured the CD still deserved another chance, so I picked it up and threw it in once again. This time, it wasn’t so bad, it grew on me a bit. Each listen after that, it grew on me a bit more, until the point where I could actually listen to it the entire way through.

Bayside haven’t broken any new boundaries here with their sophomore effort. In fact, it’s a pretty generic pop-punk album, which really has nothing to make it stand out amongst the crowd. The vocals aren’t even that great, they still annoy me at times as they are a little too whiny and boyish to really entertain you. Take for instance, the acoustic track Don’t Call Me A Peanut that is thrown haphazardly into the mix. This just doesn’t sound right and doesn’t fit the flow of the album. Acoustic songs are supposed to be vocally driven for the most part, and Raneri just doesn’t have the vocals to make it work. This one is definitely a skipper.

Not to worry though, the CD isn’t all bad. There’s still a good solid selection of tracks on here that get the listener’s head bopping in tune with its upbeat melodies. Devotion And Desire, We’ll Be O.K. and my favorite, Blame It On Bad Luck all show that Bayside are able to make some catchy tunes if they need to. Here, they succeed in making solid pop-punk songs. The choruses are simple and cathy, after only a few listens you’re singing along and the overall feel is one of simple pleasure and enjoyment.

So, I’m still not a huge fan of Bayside, and I can’t understand why some people are such fanatics about the band. But I have grown to like a few of their songs, which is an improvement in my book.