‘Paper Walls’ is Yellowcard‘s make or break album. While ‘Ocean Avenue’ shot them to mini super-stardom with a clutch of excellent singles, follow-up ‘Lights and Sounds’ tanked. While it wasn’t too bad an album musically, it pushed away from the safer sound the band garnered success from and as a result it was a commercial flop, especially for a major label. With frontman Ryan Key suffering from throat problems the band found themselves unable to tour and as Fall Out Boy, Panic! and others came along, Yellowcard were pushed to the back of the line. ‘Paper Walls’ is, in a sense, Yellowcard‘s last chance of breaking back to the bigger leagues – if this fails too, surely the majors will be asking questions…
So it’s not a surprise to hear that many of the tracks on this album sound like early YC. ‘The Takedown’ is fast and frenetic with the violin heavily prominent, while ‘Keeper’ sounds like a cross between ‘Ocean Ave’-era YC and something from the ‘One For The Kids’ album. Clearly recognising the band’s strong points, Ryan’s voice takes precedence over the instruments in the mix, making the vocal melodies strong throughout and providing many singalong moments.
‘Five Becomes Four’ is a contender for one of Yellowcard‘s all-time great songs. It’s fast, furious and has a huge vocal hook, coupled with plenty of their trademark violin. ‘Afraid’ is a bit damn good too. It’s not all good mind. ‘Light Up the Sky’ is a bit too lighters-in-the-air for me and as Yellowcard at better, for me, when they’re quicker, this suffers a bit as it plods along. Ditto ‘Shadows and Regrets’ which is slow and likely to be branded as filler. And once ‘Afraid’ finishes the album kind of peters out with a bit of a whimper, not really gathering enough pace to keep your attention. I found myself skipping back and playing the first 7 or 8 tracks and forgetting about the rest.
The good news for Yellowcard is that ‘Paper Walls’ is much better than their last album, although it’s not as consistent as either of the band’s first two full-lengths. That said, I think there’s enough here to keep fans happy and pick up a few new ones in the meantime.