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All Time Low

So Wrong, It's Right

Written by: PP on 12/12/2007 02:10:40

If pop punk sensation Hit The Lights' success of the past 12 months is something to go by, then All Time Low is probably the next band that's going to explode onto the scene with their infectiously catchy sophomore album "So Wrong, It's Right". Featuring glitch-free smooth 'n' slick pop punk from start to finish, this one's sure to be a winner at least amongst the fans of Hit The Lights, if not the whole pop punk scene in general. But I, for one, am not sold so easily on marketing hype, so I went ahead and placed the record under intense scrutiny in the past few months since it entered my collection.

The result was surprising. Upon my initial listens I was sure that their sugarcoated, almost naive take on pop punk was sure to be a one night stand of sorts, where I'd listen through to the records and two to three weeks later I'd get tired of the constant happy-drugs the band is on throughout the record. I thought that every bouncy rhythm and every cleanly produced guitar hook would surely come across as cliché over the long run, but it seems that I was wrong. Judging on the album title, I had it coming though.

You see, although tracks like "Holly (Would You Turn Me On?)" are glittery to the point where you're almost tempted to draw the odd parallel to Avril Lavigne, somehow they pull it through convincingly, leaving not a soul behind. Every song is danceable to the point where you're ready to do somersaults on a trampoline just to prove a point, it's just that fun of a record.

The band doesn't exactly hide their influences - in the end they don't sound much different than a polished version of early New Found Glory meets "From Under The Cork Tree"-era Fall Out Boy. But I guess that's the whole point, this is high school pop punk after all. The fact of the matter is that "So Wrong, It's Right" lives up to its title: it's the guilty pleasure of us 'grown up' mid-90s pop punkers.

Download: Holly (Would You Turn Me On?), The Beach, This Is How We Do
For the fans of: Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, Cartel, Hit The Lights
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.09.2007
Hopeless Records