Story Of The Year – Page Avenue

Story Of The Year exploded out of St. Louis, Missouri five years ago. The five piece punk rock band extends the limit of punk with an original sound which includes portions of pop-punk melodies mixed in with screaming vocals. Their new CD, “Page Avenue” is filled with 12 tracks all pushing the limits of punk and opening our minds to a new catchy sound.

The thing which stands up above all else in Story of The Year is the vocals. Sometimes they are smooth and melodic, perfect harmonies singing great lyrics, while other times they are loud and harsh, screaming while still having a melodic feel to it at times. Each song combines the two sorts which creates a variation in their sound. It makes it so that each track has something to look forward to. Breaking away from the generic pop-punk sound is what the vocals do best though. Even when they are the softer vocals, you still get a feeling of true power behind them, something which seems to be lacking in a lot of bands today.

A song is nothing without being backed up by great melodies and riffs, and Story Of The Year does just that. The guitar and bass work is simply amazing. The riffs are catchy and always fit in perfectly with one another along side the vocals. The drumming is good, but not amazing. It tends to be in the background most of the time, only take the step up front once of twice. But that is what the band needs, if it was overpowered by drums it would ruin the sound.

The only real band parts of the album are after tracks 11 and 12 (“Razorblade” and “Falling Down”). After the first, they have some sort of weird chant which sounds like an African chant and after the second they have the band messing around in the studio, That can be somewhat entertaining but there really is no need for it.