Story Of The Year – The Constant

Band: Story Of The Year
Album: The Constant
Year: 2010
Label: Epitaph
Myspace

Best Song: The Children Sing
Score: 6/10
.

We all know who Story of the Year (soty) is and that they got their big breakthrough in 2003 with their debut album “Page Avenue”. I was one of the kids back then who became a big fan and I could not ever get enough of “Page Avenue”. That was 2003 and 7 years later they are back with another album, this time called “The Constant” and it is released through Epitaph. You who followed this band through the years understand me when I say that this band has somewhat gone down hill, that they have become just another “rock” band. In between the release of “Page Avenue” and “Constant” they put out two other albums called “In The Wake of Determination”, which is by far the weakest album of them all, and “The Black Swan”. Let’s face it – not much can beat “Page Avenue”. So when I started to listen to “The Constant” I didn’t have much hope for it to knock me out like “Page Avenue” did.

But I could not have been more wrong. The first track called “The Children Sing” knocked me back 7 years and immediately got my hopes up that old soty is back in full “Page Avenue” shape. The second track called “The Ghost Of You and I” is just as good as the former and is filled with the fast melodies and sing alongs. Now I got super excited for “The Constant” and couldn’t wait to check out the rest of the album. But as for the third track I got disappointed. It is back to the simple and boring sound, and just doesn’t feel very much creative at all. This continues for another 4 songs and I hate to say it but it is just too weak for my taste. Though “To The Burial”, track 4 had a few good glimpse. But from track 8 to last song it gets pretty good again and over all it’s a decent album.

Weird as it may sound my favorite track is the opener, the first track called “The Children Sing”. Maybe because I feel like 7 years younger again or maybe because the fact that this song is pretty darn good – just that simple. I love the back up vocals of, I assume, the children and I love how this song is so simple but yet so creative and clicks right away for me. There’s nothing not to like about this song. It’s like the good ol’ Story of the Year but in a more mature way.

Now I may not love “The Constant” but I think Story of the Year picked the right course for this album as it brings back nostalgia and is an album that’s actually pretty solid. But it would take a bit more for me to love this record thanks to the middle tracks being so weak.

TRACKLIST: