Review Summary: "Ocean Avenue" has childhood memories for those familiar and amazing new tracks to new fans.
Yellowcard's third album "Ocean Avenue" provides classic tunes to those who grew up with Yellowcard and enough energy and power to bring in new fans. This album is, for most people, the only album they've heard from Yellowcard, and it is well deserved.
This album has variety in it's songs with enough to appeal to most tastes, from the fast beats in "Life of a Salesman" to slower room for a breath in "One Year, Six Months." But, apart from individual songs, this album as a whole stands out from other albums of the same genre. Mr. Peter Mosley has quite a few amazing bass lines that carry this album to new places, with high notes in "Way Away," and lower parts that blend in songs like "Empty Apartment." Next up is LP. His insane drum parts flow perfectly with truly remarkable bass drum work, as well as powering the band through songs, notably the intro to "Miles Apart." Ben Harper also has his moments, with guitar leads that cannot be missed, with a few awesome solos. Ryan Key has very good vocals in this album as well.
Now, what makes Yellowcard stand out is Mr. Sean Mackin, the violin player. Some of Mackin's best violins are in this album, with fast beats in "Believe" and slower y harmonies in "Firewater."
But as a whole, this album is still remarkable. Keeping energy all the way through with only a few places to take breaths make this a great summer listen. The themes here are also very present, with moving on in life, to even some respectable words regarding respecting your parents and messages about home and love. There's hints of real inspiration, from real life events that happened to the lead singer Ryan Key.
This album isn't without its downsides, though. There are elements of country that are jarring at a first listen. It may also be a person thing, but I'm not a fan of "Inside Out." Other than that, "Ocean Avenue" has amazing flow with great hits and jams. It also seemlessly blends a song with Mackin in charge of the vocals without much alarm when it happens. This album is not to be missed.
4/5
