Yellowcard - 'Ocean Avenue' (Capitol)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
What really makes young Florida quartet Yellowcard stand apart from their pop-punk peers is their willingness to embrace serious, cutting-edge politcal issues amongst their lyrical themes such as globalisation, environmentalism and the changing face of religion in the 21st century.
Just kidding. As you'd expect from Warped Tour stalwarts, it's girls, relationships, high-school and all that kinda thing. There is, however, a spiky charge running through 'Ocean Avenue' that saves the album from just another bundle of so-so mosh-fodder.
On occasion ('One Year, Six Months' to be precise), Yellowcard demonstrate an uncommon tenderness a la Green Day's 'Time of Your Life'; it's rarely seen on this kind of record. They do have a slight additional quirk in that they make use of the violin to both accentuate maudlin slowies like 'Empty Apartment' and 'Only One' as well on upbeat Dexys Midnight Runners/Pulp-esque jaunts (pretty much the rest of the album). Based on the whole display - no, Yellowcard won't be given their marching-orders quite yet.
Artists in this article: Yellowcard
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